Letter from the Chief Inspector of General Practice

We carried out an announced comprehensive inspection at The London Road Surgery on 25 February 2015. Overall the practice is rated as good.

Specifically, we found the practice to be good for providing safe, effective, caring, responsive and well-led services. We found that it was good for providing services to all of the population groups we looked at.

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

• Staff understood and fulfilled their responsibilities to raise concerns, and to report incidents and near misses. Information about safety was recorded, monitored, appropriately reviewed and addressed.
• Generally risks to patients were assessed and well managed however a health and safety risk assessment had not been undertaken.
• Patients’ needs were assessed and care was planned and delivered following best practice guidance. Staff had received training appropriate to their roles and any further training needs had been identified and planned.
• 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.
• Patients said they found it easy to make an appointment with a named GP and that there was continuity of care, with urgent appointments available the same day.
• The practice was well equipped to treat patients and meet their needs.
• There was a clear leadership structure and staff felt supported by the partners and practice manager. The practice proactively sought feedback from staff and patients, which it acted on.
• Clinical governance was robustly monitored with an ethos of continuous improvement and learning.
• Effective systems were in place to monitor and assess the quality service provision. High levels of performance and quality of care were evident across the processes and procedures at the practice.

We saw one area of outstanding practice:

• Cohesive leadership was in place that included staff at all levels. The leadership and culture had a positive impact on the delivery of care. All staff shared the practice objectives and worked towards them. Staff satisfaction levels were high.

However there was an area of practice where the provider needs to make improvements.

Importantly the provider should;

• Undertake health and safety and legionella risk assessments.

Professor Steve Field (CBE FRCP FFPH FRCGP) 

Chief Inspector of General Practice