Letter from the Chief Inspector of General Practice

We carried out a comprehensive inspection of New Road Surgery on 18 November 2014. We found that New Road Surgery provided a good service to patients in all of the five key areas we looked at. This applied to patients across all age ranges and to patients with varied needs due to their health or social circumstances.

Our key findings were as follows:

• The practice had comprehensive safety systems and a focus on openness and learning when things went wrong.
• The practice was proactive in helping patients with long term conditions to manage their health and had arrangements in place to make sure their health was monitored regularly.
• All staff were actively engaged in activities to provide effective and responsive care and treatment to patients.
• The practice was clean and hygienic and had robust arrangements for minimising the risks from healthcare associated infections.
• Patients felt that they were treated with dignity and respect. They felt that their GP listened to them and treated them as individuals.
• The practice had a well-established and well trained team with expertise and experience in a wide range of health conditions.
• The leadership team had a shared purpose and motivated and encouraged the staff team to deliver the best care they could.

There were also areas where the practice needs to make improvements.

The practice should:

• Develop their system of completed clinical audit cycles, include minor surgery in this and be more proactive about using these to foster further development and shared learning.
• Develop their recruitment policies and procedures to include more detail about the steps the practice takes to gather all of the required information about new staff. This should include how they reach decisions about which applicants they should request a Disclosure and Barring Service check for and which information must be in place before new staff have contact with patients.

Professor Steve Field (CBE FRCP FFPH FRCGP) 

Chief Inspector of General Practice

We carried out an announced comprehensive inspection at New Road Surgery on 7 February 2019 as part of our inspection programme. The practice was previously inspected in November 2014 and rated good.

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.
• Patients told us that all staff treated them with kindness and respect and that they felt involved in discussions about their treatment options.
• Patients considered that staff demonstrated a balance of professionalism and friendliness.
• The practice organised and delivered services to meet patients’ needs. Patients said that they could access care and treatment in a timely way.
• The way the practice was led and managed promoted the delivery of high-quality, person-centre care and contributed to the strong teamwork and high staff morale.
• The practice had updated their recruitment policy since the previous inspection in 2014. It included comprehensive details about the recruitment procedures and Disclosure and Barring Service checks.
• We noted that the practice’s screening rates for cervical, breast and bowel screening rates were above local and national averages. The practice had exceeded the national target rate of 80% for screening for cervical cancer.
• There was evidence of collaborative working with local practices and the community hospital.
• There was a strong focus on continuous learning and improvement at all levels of the organisation.
• The practice took an active part in research projects.

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

• Ensure that the range of emergency medicines stocked is kept under review so that the practice is able to respond appropriately to medical emergencies.
• Ensure that the scope of the infection and prevention control audits is broadened to include all areas of the practice.
• Ensure that appraisals for staff are carried out at the annual intervals as stated in the practice policy.

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