Letter from the Chief Inspector of General Practice

We carried out an announced comprehensive inspection at Malling Health @ Parsonage Street on 19 June 2015. 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 to report incidents and near misses. Information about safety was recorded, monitored, appropriately reviewed. However follow up of actions was not always clearly reported.
• Risks to patients were assessed and generally well managed.
• Patients’ needs were assessed and care was planned and delivered following best practice guidance. Staff had received training appropriate to their roles.

• Patients said they were treated with dignity and respect and they were involved in their care and decisions about their treatment. However, published data from the latest GP national patient survey showed scores that were lower than other practices in the locality and nationally.
• Information about services and how to complain was available and easy to understand.
• There was mixed feedback from patients about access to appointments and satisfaction with consultations. Results from the national GP patient survey were below local and national averages for many indicators. Our feedback from patients during the inspection was more positive.
• The practice had good facilities and was well equipped to treat patients and meet their needs.
• There was a clear leadership structure. There were opportunities for staff to provide feedback and staff felt listened to and supported by management.

We saw one area of outstanding practice:

• The practice had worked with local businesses and the Big Issue to provide support to some of the most vulnerable people on public holidays such as Christmas Day, providing food and somewhere for them to go. Approximately 100 people had turned up to the last event.

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

Importantly the provider should:

• Improve record keeping for recording follow up of actions from significant events and complaints.
• Ensure audits complete their full audit cycle in order to demonstrate improvements made to practice.
• Ensure systems are in place for updating patient records following multi-disciplinary team meetings.
• Review patient survey information to identify how patient satisfaction could be improved.

Professor Steve Field (CBE FRCP FFPH FRCGP) 

Chief Inspector of General Practice