Letter from the Chief Inspector of General Practice

We carried out an announced comprehensive inspection at Mill Road Surgery on 6 October 2015. Overall the practice is rated as good.

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

• Patients’ needs were assessed and care was planned and delivered following best practice guidance. Staff had received training appropriate to their roles.
• There were systems in place to reduce risks to patient safety, for example infection prevention and control procedures and health and safety assessments.
• Staff understood and fulfilled their responsibilities to raise concerns and to report incidents, near misses and any identified safeguarding issues.
• Information about services and how to complain was available and easy to understand.
• The practice was responsive and regularly sought patient views how improvements could be made to the service, through the use of patient surveys, NHS Choices website, Friends and Family Test, ‘I Want Great Care’ and the practice’s patient representation group (PRG).
• Urgent appointments were available for patients the same day as requested, although not necessarily with a GP of their choice.
• Patients said they were treated with compassion, dignity and respect and were involved in care and decisions about their treatment.

We saw areas of outstanding practice:

• The practice used a buddy approach for all staff appraisals. This involved staff being allocated a buddy to undertake the pre-appraisal process, for example identify any learning needs and 360 degree feedback. The practice then met as a group to share any ideas identified at the pre-appraisal stage, for example ways in which the team could work more effectively. Following this staff would then have a one to one with their manager to discuss and approve their appraisal. Staff had access to, and made use of, e-learning training modules.
• The practice provided care to residential care homes and hosted weekly community elderly psychiatry clinics for patients to ensure care is provided closer to home.
• The practice had a library to enable patients to access information on health including long term conditions such as diabetes.

However there were areas where the provider should make improvements.

Importantly the provider should:

• Ensure flooring where treatments are carried out is seamless and smooth, slip-resistant, easily cleaned and appropriately wear-resistant.
• Ensure there is signage in the waiting room and treatment rooms so patients are informed on how to access a chaperone.

Professor Steve Field (CBE FRCP FFPH FRCGP) 

Chief Inspector of General Practice

Letter from the Chief Inspector of General Practice

We carried out an announced comprehensive inspection of this practice on 6 October 2015 and identified areas where the practice should make improvements. Particularly around the flooring in the practice nurses' room and signage regarding the availability of chaperone services.

We undertook this focused desktop review on 6 July 2016 to check what actions had been completed to make improvements. This report only covers our findings in relation to those requirements. You can read the report from our last comprehensive inspection, by selecting the 'all reports' link for Mill Road Surgery on our website www.cqc.org.uk.

Overall the practice is rated Good. Specifically, following the focused desktop review we found the practice to be good for providing safe services in all the population groups.

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

• The practice had replaced the flooring in the practice nurses' room with seamless, smooth, slip resistant and easily cleaned flooring.

• Posters were displayed in the two waiting rooms and behind the reception desk informing patients how to request a chaperone service if required.
• The Disclosure and Barring Service (DBS) checks for staff who act as chaperones had been completed (DBS checks identify whether a person has a criminal record or is on an official list of people barred from working in roles where they may have contact with children or adults who may be vulnerable).

Professor Steve Field CBE FRCP FFPH FRCGP 

Chief Inspector of General Practice