We carried out an announced comprehensive inspection at Galleries Medical Practice on 22 January 2019 as part of our inspection programme.

We based our judgement of the quality of care at this service on a combination of:

• what we found when we inspected
• information from our ongoing monitoring of data about services and
• information from the provider, patients, the public and other organisations.

We have rated this practice as good overall.

We have rated the domain of responsive as requires improvement because:

• Results of the National GP survey for appointment access were lower than local and national average scores.
• Feedback on the NHS Choices website raised concerns about the practice availability of appointments.
• The common theme to the practice formal complaints was regarding appointment access.
• While the practice had recently changed the appointment system following negative feedback about access from a patient survey it was too early to demonstrate whether these changes had made a difference to patient opinion.
• However, we rated the population groups in this domain as good as services were planned and delivered in a way that met the needs of the local population.

The matters that led to the key question of ‘are services responsive’ being rated as requires improvement applied to all population groups, hence they are all rated as requires improvement for being providing responsive services. There were also some examples of good practice:

We found that:

• The practice provided care in a way that kept patients safe and protected them from avoidable harm.
• The practice had systems in place so that safety incidents were less likely to happen.
• Patients received effective care and treatment that met their needs.
• Staff dealt with patients with kindness and respect and involved them in decisions about their care.
• The practice organised and delivered services to meet patients’ needs.
• The way the practice was led and managed promoted the delivery of high-quality, person-centre care.

The areas where the provider should make improvements are:

• Continue to try and identify carers.
• Continue to monitor the practice appointment system and patient feedback regarding the this.

Details of our findings and the evidence supporting our ratings are set out in the evidence tables.

Professor Steve Field CBE FRCP FFPH FRCGP
Chief Inspector of General Practice