Letter from the Chief Inspector of General Practice

We carried out an announced comprehensive inspection at Prospect Surgery on 2 August 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 been trained to provide them with 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. Improvements were made to the quality of care as a result of complaints and concerns.
• Patients said they found it easy to make an appointment with a GP and 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.

The areas where the provider should make improvement were:

• The practice should review their stock checking procedures to ensure that all medicines available for use are in date.

• Review their arrangements for the checking of their fire alarms on a regular basis.

Professor Steve Field (CBE FRCP FFPH FRCGP) 

Chief Inspector of General Practice

We saw the practice encouraged patient feedback through a patient reference group and by patient surveys which were readily available within the waiting area.

We spoke with three patients following our inspection who were happy that their views were taken into consideration.

The patients we spoke with were happy with the care and treatment they received. Comments included:

“I’ve always found the general working of the surgery, the doctors, the nurses and staff in general has been positive and helpful.”

“I think it’s a good practice. It can’t be bad I’ve been with them 46 years.”

There was a nominated safeguarding lead within the practice and procedures were in place to escalate any concerns. However, we found not all staff were fully confident with the safeguarding procedures, particularly around vulnerable adults.

The practice had a recruitment policy. The three staff files we reviewed contained all relevant checks to demonstrate that the people employed were of good character. We found the staff files were disorganised which meant that information was not readily available so had to be requested.

We saw there were a number of quality assurance processes in place, including significant events reviews and clinical audits.