Letter from the Chief Inspector of General Practice

We carried out an announced comprehensive inspection at Happy House Surgery on 29 June 2016. Overall, the practice is rated as good.

Our key findings across all the areas we inspected were as follows:

• Staff understood and fulfilled their responsibilities to raise concerns and report incidents and near misses. Lessons were learned when incidents and near misses occurred.
• Risks to patients were assessed and well managed.
• Staff assessed patients’ needs and delivered care in line with current evidence based guidance. Staff had the skills, knowledge and experience to deliver effective care and treatment.
• Patients said they were treated with compassion, dignity and respect and they were involved in their care and decisions about their treatment.
• Information about services and how to complain was available and easy to understand.
• Patients said they found it easy to make an appointment with a named GP and there was continuity of care, with urgent appointments available the same day.
• Extended hours appointments were available on a Monday and Friday between 7am and 8:30am.
• The practice had good facilities and was well equipped to treat patients and meet their needs.
• There was a clear leadership structure and staff felt supported by management.
• The practice proactively sought feedback from staff and patients, which it acted on. An influential and active patient participation group (PPG) had been established for over 20 years. The PPG were actively consulted on possible changes at the practice and they responded to issues raised by the group quickly.
• The provider was aware of and complied with the requirements of the duty of candour regulation.
• The practice won local awards from in 2015 and 2016 following nominations from patients.
• Data from the National GP Patient Survey, published in January 2016, showed that patients rated the practice highly for access to care and treatment. For example, of those that responded 99% found it easy to get through to the practice by phone (CCG average 78%, national average 73%) and 91% describe their experience of making an appointment as good (CCG average 76%, national average 73%). Of those who responded 84% feel that they don’t normally wait too long to be seen (CCG average 64%, national average 58%).

We saw two areas of outstanding practice:

• Audio leaflets were available on the practice website so that patients who had difficulty seeing or reading were able to access practice information. Audio leaflets were available with information about the practice, opening hours, making an appointment, ordering repeat prescriptions, home visits and emergencies and making a complaint. The practice could also provide this information directly to patients as a file that could be saved on a patient’s phone or computer.
• Non-clinical staff who acted as chaperones wore a blue ‘chaperone’ badge that ensured patients were aware of the availability of chaperones at the practice.

Professor Steve Field CBE FRCP FFPH FRCGP 

Chief Inspector of General Practice

We spent time observing the way the practice worked and spoke to patients and staff. We spoke with four patients who all were satisfied with the service they received from Happy House Surgery. One person told us the practice was “Wonderful” and had improved “Considerably” in recent years. Another person said the service they received was “First class”. When we asked patients if they would know how to make a complaint one person said “Why would I want to, the practice is so good”.

We saw the provider had taken reasonable steps to identify the possibility of abuse from happening. The practice was clean and had the appropriate standards of cleanliness.

Staff were trained to the appropriate standard and received support to carry out their roles. There were systems in place to identify, monitor and manage risks to those using, working in or visiting the service.