Letter from the Chief Inspector of General Practice

We carried out an announced comprehensive inspection at Oakmeadow Surgery on 19 January 2015.

Overall the practice is rated as good.

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

• Urgent appointments were available the same day.
• The practice had good facilities including disabled access and was found to be clean and tidy.
• Information about services and how to complain was available.
• Patients said they felt the practice offered an excellent service and staff were friendly and caring and treated them with dignity and respect
• There were systems in place to reduce risks to patient safety for example, infection control procedures.
• Patients’ needs were assessed and care was planned and delivered following best practice guidance.
• Staff had received training appropriate to their roles.
• Recruitment checks were carried out and the appropriate recruitment checks had been undertaken prior to employment.
• The practice had a comprehensive business continuity plan in place for major incidents such as power failure or building damage.

• Staff understood and fulfilled their responsibilities to raise concerns and report incidents and near misses.

Please note that when referring to information throughout this report, for example any reference to the Quality and Outcomes Framework data, this relates to the most recent information available to the CQC at that time.

Professor Steve Field (CBE FRCP FFPH FRCGP) 

Chief Inspector of General Practice

We did not speak to patients on this inspection.

We found that Oakmeadow Surgery was now compliant as regards all of the regulations we had previously reported against.

We did not speak to patients on this inspection.

We found that Oakmeadow Surgery was still non-compliant as regards three of the four regulations we had previously reported against. These regulations related to infection control, recruitment and safeguarding of children and vulnerable adults.

Though we spoke with more than 25 patients, only two agreed to share their experiences and both identified positive outcomes. One patient said “The surgery is brilliant I have been coming here over 30 years.” Patients confirmed they felt listened to, were always given choices and felt involved in their care and advised regarding any risks and benefits. Another person explained “They (the staff) are good, they always remind you about any outstanding checks.”

Medicines and vaccines were stored and dispensed appropriately.

The provider had systems in place for monitoring the quality of service provision, the patient participation group (PPG) were active and assisted in this process. The PPG are an effective way for patients and GP practices to work together and improve the service and promote and improve the quality of care.

We found one area for improvement was infection control, and work was also needed around the training of staff around safeguarding and risk assessments around managing the possibility of Legionella at the practice.