Letter from the Chief Inspector of General Practice

We carried out an announced comprehensive inspection at Northgate Village Surgery Centre on 11 April 2017.

Overall the practice is rated as good.

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

• There were systems in place to reduce risks to patient safety, for example, equipment checks were carried out, there were systems to protect patients from the risks associated with insufficient staffing levels and to prevent the spread of infection.

• Staff understood and fulfilled their responsibilities to raise concerns and report incidents and near misses. Staff were aware of procedures for safeguarding patients from the risk of abuse.
• Patients’ needs were assessed and care was planned and delivered following best practice guidance.

• Staff felt supported. They had access to training and development opportunities and had received training appropriate to their roles.

• Patients said they were treated with compassion, dignity and respect. We saw staff treated patients with kindness and respect.

• Services were planned and delivered to take into account the needs of different patient groups.

• Access to the service was monitored to ensure it met the needs of patients.

• There was a system in place to manage complaints.

• There were systems in place to monitor and improve quality and identify risk.

The areas where the provider should make improvements are:

• Introduce a written protocol detailing the process for changes to be made to medication by the medicines management team and safeguards to ensure changes made are correct. This protocol should also identify the remit of the medicines managers. An audit should be undertaken to ensure this system is operating effectively.

• Make a record of the in-house checks of cleaning standards.
• Ensure staff recruitment records contain evidence of qualifications having been verified and evidence of information having been gathered about any physical or mental conditions which were relevant (after reasonable adjustments) to the role the person was being employed to undertake.

• The health and safety risk assessment specific to the practice should contain more detail about possible risks and how they are to be mitigated.

• A record should be made of which staff participated in fire drills and any action to be taken to improve the process.

• The salaried GPs should have an in-house appraisal in addition to the external appraisal process.
• Provide a more comprehensive record of the induction provided to staff.
• Include in records of clinical meetings discussion concerning National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) updates and alerts received from the Medicines and Healthcare Products Regulatory Agency.

Professor Steve Field (CBE FRCP FFPH FRCGP) 

Chief Inspector of General Practice