Letter from the Chief Inspector of General Practice

We carried out an announced comprehensive inspection of Kingsfield Medical Centre on 5 December 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. Learning was shared with staff and reported to external agencies when required.
• Required recruitment checks had been made before members of staff were employed to work at the practice. However, the physical and mental health of newly appointed staff had not been considered.
• Effective systems were in place to mitigate risks to patients who took high risk medicines.
• An overarching training matrix and policy was in place to monitor that all staff were up to date with their training needs and received regular appraisals.
• 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
• Feedback from patients about their care was consistently positive and was reflected in the national patient survey published in July 2016.
• The practice had reviewed the needs of its local population and engaged with the NHS England Area Team and Clinical Commissioning Group (CCG) to secure improvements to services where these were identified. For example, the practice provided an anticoagulation (medication used to prevent blood clots) service for registered and non-registered patients.
• The practice had good facilities and was well equipped to treat patients and meet their needs. The premises included a dedicated training area for medical students.
• The practice actively reviewed complaints and how they were managed and responded to, and made improvements as a result.
• The practice had a strong culture for education and learning and was an established, approved provider for a number of services that reduced the need for secondary care.
• The practice had visible clinical and managerial leadership. Governance and audit arrangements were comprehensive and effective.

The areas where the provider should make improvement are:

• Implement processes to demonstrate that the physical and mental health of newly appointed staff have been considered to ensure they are suitable to carry out the requirements of the role.
• Improve the prescription tracking system to minimise the risk of fraud.
• Ensure that staff remove their smart cards from computers when not at the workstation.
• Review the lone working policy to ensure the policy is effective.
• Implement a system to check that clinical guidelines have always been implemented.

Professor Steve Field (CBE FRCP FFPH FRCGP) 

Chief Inspector of General Practice