Letter from the Chief Inspector of General Practice

We carried out an announced inspection

at Hill Brow Surgery on 9 December 2014.

Overall the practice is rated as

good.

Specifically, we found the practice to

be good for providing well-led, effective, caring and responsive services. It was

also good for providing services for older people, people with long term

conditions, families, children and young people and the working age population.

Our key findings across all the areas

we inspected were as follows:

• Staff

  understood and fulfilled their responsibilities to raise concerns, and to

  report incidents and near misses. Information about safety was recorded,

  monitored, appropriately reviewed and addressed.

• Risks to

  patients were assessed and well managed, including those relating to

  recruitment checks.

• Patients’ needs were assessed

  and care was planned and delivered following best practice guidance. Staff

  had received training appropriate to their roles and any further training

  needs had been identified and planned.

• 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. Complaints

  were addressed in a timely manner and the practice endeavoured to resolve

  complaints to a satisfactory conclusion.

• Patients

  said they found it easy to make an appointment with a named GP and that

  there was continuity of care, with urgent appointments available the same

  day.

• 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.

Professor Steve Field (CBE FRCP FFPH FRCGP) 

Chief Inspector of General Practice