Letter from the Chief Inspector of General Practice

We carried out an announced comprehensive inspection at Old Coulsdon Medical Practice on 26 May 2016. Overall the practice is rated as good.

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

• There was an open and transparent approach to safety and an effective system in place for reporting and recording significant events.
• Risks to patients were assessed and well managed.
• Staff assessed patients’ needs and delivered care in line with current evidence based guidance. Staff had the skills, knowledge and experience to deliver effective care and treatment.
• Patients said they were treated with compassion, dignity and respect and they were involved in their care and decisions about their treatment.
• Information about services and how to complain was available and easy to understand.
• Patients said they found it easy to make an appointment with a named GP and that there was continuity of care, with urgent appointments available the same day.
• The practice had good facilities and was well equipped to treat patients and meet their needs.
• There was a clear leadership structure and staff felt supported by management. The practice proactively sought feedback from staff and patients, which it acted on.
• The provider was aware of and complied with the requirements of the Duty of Candour.

We saw two areas of outstanding practice:

• The practice Patient Participation Group (PPG) regularly invited specialist speakers and provided educational events for patients on topics including dementia, cardiology, prostate cancer, breast cancer, arthritis and gastric reflux; about 30 to 80 patients attended these talks; these talks were followed by a question and answer session. Following these events the PPG obtained feedback from these patients and found that these educational events were very useful for patients as they provided exercise and lifestyle advice.
• The practice hosted a dementia carers support group through their Patient Participation Group (PPG) and had a held carers week. The practice also ran monthly carer support group afternoons. The PPG invited guest speakers during these support group meetings and provided talks and live demonstrations on topics such as manual handling, incontinence pads, eating and dressing.

There were areas of practice where the provider should make improvements:

• Ensure that the business continuity plan is up-to date.
• Ensure that all staff have annual basic life support training.
• Review the complaints procedure to ensure it contains all the relevant information for patients.
• Consider documenting discussions from staff meetings.

Professor Steve Field CBE FRCP FFPH FRCGP 

Chief Inspector of General Practice