We carried out an announced comprehensive at Rickleton Medical Centre on 11 February 2019. This was as part of our ongoing inspection programme.

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 rated this practice as good overall and good for all population groups

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We inspected the practice when it was previously registered as a partnership and rated them as good overall and for all population groups (May 2016). The staffing and management arrangements within the practice had not changed. The new registration was to reflect contractual changes within the practice.

At this inspection we found:

• The practice had clear systems to manage risk so that safety incidents were less likely to happen. When incidents did happen, the practice learned from them and improved their processes.
• The practice routinely reviewed the effectiveness and appropriateness of the care they provided. They ensured that care and treatment was delivered according to evidence- based guidelines. The practice had achieved 93.1% of the points available within the Quality and Outcomes Framework for providing recommended treatments for the most commonly found clinical conditions. They had high uptake of childhood immunisations and cancer screening initiatives.
• The practice had a strong approach to training and development and actively encouraged staff to take up development opportunities.
• Staff involved and treated patients with compassion, kindness, dignity and respect.
• Patients found the appointment system easy to use and reported that they were able to access care when they needed it. The National GP Patient Survey showed there were high levels of patient satisfaction with how they could access the service.
• There was a strong focus on continuous learning and improvement at all levels of the organisation.

The areas where the provider should make improvements are:

• Develop formal risk assessments to document the decisions to not stock some emergency medicines and spare defibrillator pads.

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