We carried out an announced comprehensive inspection at Long Stratton Medical Partnership on 7 February 2019 as part of our inspection programme. The practice was previously inspected in November 2014 and rated as good overall.

We based our judgement of the quality of care at this service on a combination of:

• what we found when we inspected
• information from our ongoing monitoring of data about services and
• information from the provider, patients, the public and other organisations.

We have rated this practice as good overall and good for all population groups.

We found that:

• The practice provided care in a way that kept patients safe and protected them from avoidable harm.
• Patients received effective care and treatment that met their needs.
• Staff dealt with patients with kindness and respect and involved them in decisions about their care.
• The practice organised and delivered services to meet patients’ needs. Patients could access care and treatment in a timely way.
• The way the practice was led and managed promoted the delivery of high-quality, person-centred care.

We found one area of outstanding practice:

• The practice had introduced a wide range of innovative IT solutions developed and implemented within the practice before working with the computer system developer to make the protocol available to all users, with approximately 400 GP Practices using the protocols across England. For example, following an incident whereby a clinician forgot to send a message to the secretary to send a two-week wait suspected cancer referral, the practice implemented a protocol to alert the clinician to provide a verbal safety net to the patient (asking the patient to contact the practice if they hadn’t received a referral) and to provide an automatic message to the secretary to send the referral. Since the protocol was introduced in May 2018, the protocol was used in each of the 1,068 two week wait referrals and the practice had not recorded any delays or incidents.

Whilst we found no breaches of regulations, the provider should:

• Review the processes for authorising Patient Group Directions and managing stocks of controlled drugs.
• Continue to monitor, review and improve the quality of care provided to patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD).

Details of our findings and the evidence supporting our ratings are set out in the evidence tables.

Professor Steve Field CBE FRCP FFPH FRCGP
Chief Inspector of General Practice

Letter from the Chief Inspector of General Practice

We visited Long Stratton Medical Partnership on the 10 November 2014 and carried out a comprehensive inspection.

The overall rating for this practice is good. We found that the practice provided a safe, effective, caring, responsive and well led service. We examined patient care across the following population groups: older people; those with long term medical conditions; mothers, babies, children and young people; working age people and those recently retired; people in vulnerable circumstances who may have poor access to primary care; and people experiencing poor mental health. We found that care was tailored appropriately to the individual circumstances and needs of the patients in these groups.

Our key findings were as follows:

• Patients felt they were treated with dignity, care and respect by all staff. They were involved in decisions about their care and treatment and were happy with the care that they received from the practice.
• The practice was a friendly, caring and responsive practice that addressed patients’ needs and worked in partnership with other health and social care services to deliver individualised care.
• Patients commented positively on the dispensary providing a quick and efficient service.
• Patients at the practice had a named GP and we saw evidence of continuity of care.
• Patients were satisfied with the appointment system at Long Stratton, although some patients told us that it was more difficult to see their named GP at the branch surgery.
• The needs of the practice population were understood and the practice was proactive in developing services to ensure the needs of patients were met effectively.

• The practice clinical leadership was effective and there was a strong emphasis on learning and development to improve the service provided to patients.

We saw several areas of outstanding practice including:

• People who cared for others were identified and were proactively supported by a carer’s coordinator who was employed by the practice. 
• The practice had established a free medicine delivery service for vulnerable patients in the community. This also ensured that vulnerable patients also received a regular welfare check and concerns were reported back to the GP.
• The practice held regular multiple-condition clinics where patients with three or more long term conditions were reviewed by a multi-disciplinary team, so there was a consensus decision on the most optimum care and treatment.
• The GP always made a home visit to families who had experienced unexpected bereavement.
• The partners had completed an analysis of their behavioural strengths and weaknesses and used this in order to maximise the effectiveness of their leadership team.

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

The provider should:

• Ensure that there are cleaning schedules in place and that the checks of the cleaning are undertaken on a regular basis.
• Ensure that the actions identified in the fire risk assessment are completed.

Professor Steve Field (CBE FRCP FFPH FRCGP) 

Chief Inspector of General Practice