Letter from the Chief Inspector of General Practice

We carried out an announced comprehensive inspection at Hounsfield Surgery on 29 July 2015. Overall the practice is rated as good.

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

• Information about safety was recorded, monitored, appropriately reviewed and addressed and risks to patients were assessed and well managed.

• 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 were very complimentary about staff at the practice. They said they were treated with compassion, dignity and respect and were involved in their care and decisions about their treatment.

• Information about services and how to complain was available and easy to understand.

• Access to the service was consistently rated as good. All of the patients who responded to the national patient survey (published July 2015) said they found it easy to get through to the surgery by phone.
• Patients we spoke with told us that they could always make an appointment with a named GP and that there was continuity of care, with urgent appointments available the same day.
• The practice offered a dispensary service and delivered dosette medicine boxes to vulnerable patients who were housebound.
• The practice had good facilities for those patients with mobility difficulties 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. High standards were promoted and owned by all practice staff with evidence of team working across all roles.

We saw several areas of outstanding practice:

• The practice had a Dignity Champion who was trained and responsible for ensuring that the 10 key elements of the Dignity Challenge were implemented across all areas of the practice. The induction programme for all new staff included the Dignity Challenge to enable the practice to set standards of behaviour from recruitment. This ensured that Feedback from the GP patient survey was above local and national averages for all indicators including those related to involvement in care and treatment.
• The GP partner attended meetings with the community falls group and had worked with a local transport company to provide support for patients with a history of falls.
• One of the GP partners visited the local primary school to introduce young children to the equipment used at the practice and to discuss childhood health issues in a way they understood to reduce any anxieties they might have when visiting their GP at the practice.

However there were areas of practice where the provider needs to make improvements.

Importantly the provider should:

• Review the criteria for significant events to ensure all dispensing or medicine issues and near misses are included to help to identify any trends or patterns over time.

Professor Steve Field (CBE FRCP FFPH FRCGP) 

Chief Inspector of General Practice