Letter from the Chief Inspector of General Practice

We carried out an announced comprehensive inspection at The Dovecot Surgery on 28 April 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 a system in place for reporting and recording significant events.
• 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.
• Patients said they found it easy to make an appointment with a named 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 acted upon feedback from staff and patients.
• The provider was aware of and complied with the requirements of the duty of candour.

However, there were areas of practice where the provider should make improvements:

The practice should ensure that staff check oxygen cylinder levels regularly.

Professor Steve Field (CBE FRCP FFPH FRCGP) 

Chief Inspector of General Practice

During the inspection we spoke with five patients, the practice manager, two general practitioners (GPs), a nurse practitioner and a health care assistant/administrator.

Patients we spoke with told us they were very happy with the care and support they received from the practice. Comments from patients were, “The doctor is lovely. She’ll listen to you and explains everything.” “There’s a lot of good care from the nurses here.” And “Staff are very approachable, they are polite when they deal with us.”

We were able to observe the experiences of patients. We saw that staff treated patients with dignity and respect. We saw that patients were involved in decisions about their care, had their care and treatment needs assessed and that treatment plans were in place.

We saw that there were effective systems in place to reduce the risk and spread of infection.

We found that training was available for staff, they had appraisals and were supported in their roles.

There were effective systems in place to regularly assess and monitor the quality of service that patients received.