Letter from the Chief Inspector of General Practice

We carried out an announced comprehensive inspection at Southam Surgery on 16 February 2016. The overall rating for this service is good.

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

• Patients’ needs were assessed and care was planned and delivered following best practice guidance. Staff told us and records showed that training appropriate to their roles had been carried out. Staff training needs had been identified and planned for the following year.
• Staff understood and fulfilled their responsibilities to raise concerns and report incidents and near misses. Learning from incidents was shared with relevant staff at meetings relevant to their roles and responsibilities, although this was not always fully documented.
• Information was provided to help patients understand the care available to them. Patients told us they were treated kindly and respectfully by staff at the practice. Their treatment options were explained to them so they were involved in their care and decisions about their treatment.
• The practice was well equipped and had good facilities to treat patients and meet their needs.
• The practice implemented suggestions for improvements and made changes to the way it delivered services as a consequence of feedback from patients and from the Patient Participation Group (PPG).
• Information about how to complain was easy to understand and available in practice leaflets and on the practice website.
• 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.

However there are areas where improvements are needed.

The areas the provider should make improvements are:

• Ensure that the infection control measures in place are followed and applied consistently by all staff.
• Establish an agenda to ensure that significant events are routinely discussed or reviewed in meetings to provide an audit trail that demonstrates the learning and sharing of information.

Professor Steve Field CBE FRCP FFPH FRCGP

Chief Inspector of General Practice

We spoke with the provider, one practice nurse, reception staff and four healthcare professionals who worked in liaison with the practice. We spoke with five patients from the practice. One patient told us, ‘I feel care is safe and staff are competent and skilled. I never feel rushed!’’ Some other comments made by patients included, ‘’ My care is followed up periodically’’ and ‘‘I’ve been a patient at the surgery for 30 years.’’

We found that good communication and referral pathways existed between the surgery and other healthcare professionals. Patients confirmed that their GP had supported them throughout the referral process. We saw that patients had been involved in making decisions about their care and treatment and forums existed to encourage patients to air their views.

We saw systems and guidance in place to protect vulnerable adults and children and saw that communication with the safeguarding teams had taken place. Staff knew who to approach should a safeguarding event take place.

We observed systems in place to assess and monitor complaints at the surgery. We observed that the complaints process had been effective against those complaints we had reviewed. We saw meeting minutes and were told by staff that the outcomes and learning from complaints had been communicated at practice meetings.

We reviewed the information available to us about Southam Surgery on 16 May 2019. We did not find evidence of significant changes to the quality of service being provided since the last inspection. As a result, we decided not to inspect the surgery at this time. We will continue to monitor this information about this service throughout the year and may inspect the surgery when we see evidence of potential changes.