Letter from the Chief Inspector of General Practice

We carried out an announced comprehensive inspection at Lockwood Surgery on 14 June 2016. The practice has received an overall rating of Good.

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

• There was an open and transparent approach to safety and an effective system in place for reporting and recording significant events.
• Risks to patients were assessed and well managed.
• Staff assessed patients’ needs and delivered care in line with current evidence based guidance. Staff had been trained to provide them with 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. Improvements were made to the quality of care as a result of complaints and concerns.
• 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.
• In the most recent national patient survey patients had rated this practice proportionately better than other practices in terms of access and their experience of the service as a whole.
• The practice had good facilities and was well equipped to treat patients and meet their needs.

• The practice was registered as a ‘Safe Place’.This meant that they had undertaken to support vulnerable people if they became disorientated or lost; and make contact with key people to ensure that they were safely returned home.

• 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.
• The provider was aware of and complied with the requirements of the duty of candour.

We saw an area of outstanding practice:

• The practice provided a weekly surgery at all the nursing homes where they had patients registered. This service had been continued despite CCG funding having been withdrawn.

  We saw one area where the provider needs to make improvements. The provider should:

• Develop a system for checking disclosure and barring service (DBS) status of locum GPs

Professor Steve Field (CBE FRCP FFPH FRCGP) 

Chief Inspector of General Practice