Letter from the Chief Inspector of General Practice

We carried out an announced comprehensive inspection at Hazelwood Group Practice

on 18 July 2016. Overall the practice is rated as good.

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

• Patients told us they were treated with dignity, respect and compassion. Patients were involved in decisions about their care and treatment.
• The practice reviewed the needs of the local population and made appropriate changes when necessary. For example, changes to the appointment system were made in order to make more same day appointments available.
• Processes and procedures were in place to ensure patients were safe. This included an appropriate system for reporting and recording significant events. They were fully reviewed at every staff meeting.
• Patients’ needs were assessed and care delivered in line with current guidelines. Staff had the appropriate skills, knowledge and experience to deliver effective care and treatment.
• Information about how to complain was available and easy to understand. The practice received very few complaints from patients and reviewed complaints to ensure lessons learned were not repeated.
• Risks to patients were assessed and well managed.

However there were areas of practice where the provider should make improvements:

• Keep copies of the Business Continuity Plan off-site.

• The practice should review personnel files to ensure they contain the information required under current legislation.

• The practice should review information available to patients to ensure it is accurate.

• The practice should ensure easy to understand and accessible information about services is available for patients.

Professor Steve Field CBE FRCP FFPH FRCGP

Chief Inspector of General Practice

We spoke with five patients. One patient told us, ‘’The nurse (X) is absolutely stunning. Any queries I can go to her. The GPs are lovely – absolutely great!’’

We spoke with four staff, two GP partners and three community professionals who had worked in collaboration with the practice. The community teams we spoke with identified that good working relationships existed between themselves and the practice.

We found effective communication and referral pathways existed between the practice and other healthcare professionals. Patients told us that their GP had supported them throughout the referral process. We saw that patients had been involved in making decisions about their care and treatment.

Systems and guidance were in place to protect vulnerable adults and children. Staff were able to identify what to do should a safeguarding event take place.

We saw effective systems in place to assess and monitor complaints at the practice.