Letter from the Chief Inspector of General Practice

We carried out an announced comprehensive inspection at The Jubilee Medical Practice on 24 November 2016. Overall the practice is rated as good.

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

• Staff understood and fulfilled their responsibilities to raise concerns and report incidents and near misses. All opportunities for learning from internal and external incidents were maximised.

• The practice was a provider hub and delivered training in conjunction with Health Education East Midlands (HEEM) and worked in partnership with multiple universities to deliver education and training to postgraduates and undergraduates such as medical students, student nurses and student pharmacists from King’s College London, University College London, University of Leicester, University of Nottingham and De-Montfort University.

• The practice manager had developed an introduction to general practice course which was commissioned across Leicester, Leicestershire and Rutland (LLR) CCGs. This course was designed for non-clinical staff to give an overall introduction to working in general practice. A further course was developed specifically for HCA’s and practice nurses.

• The practice held a combined care clinic for patients who suffered with multiple long term conditions and chronic diseases. This clinic was a one stop shop for patients which were held by a team which included a GP, practice nurse and HCA to ensure patients health needs were discussed and met where possible during one appointment, reducing the amount of visits to the practice required.

• The practice had good facilities and was well equipped to treat patients and meet their needs.

• Risks to patients were assessed and well managed. The practice had an effective risk register in place and had carried out numerous risk assessments which were reviewed on a regular basis.

• 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.

• The practice actively reviewed complaints and how they are managed and responded to, and made improvements as a result.

• The practice had a clear vision which had quality and safety as its top priority. The strategy to deliver this vision had been produced with stakeholders and was regularly reviewed and discussed with staff.

• The practice had strong and visible clinical and managerial leadership and governance arrangements.

We saw one area of outstanding practice:

• A GP in the practice was a ‘dementia champion’ and had created a template for use in the early identification of dementia in patients which had been shared for wider use with other practices within NHS East Leicestershire and Rutland CCG (ELCCG). This template was developed in collaboration with the CCG and was shared for wider use within NHS West Leicestershire CCG (WLCCG) and NHS Leicester City CCG (LCCCG) following requests and positive feedback received.

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

• Continue to monitor actions taken in relation to

  the issues highlighted in the national GP patient survey in order to improve patient satisfaction, including appointment access and c

  are planning and involvement in decisions about care and treatment.

Professor Steve Field (CBE FRCP FFPH FRCGP) 

Chief Inspector of General Practice