Letter from the Chief Inspector of General Practice

We carried out an announced comprehensive inspection at The Maltings Surgery on 22 April 2015. Overall the practice is rated as good.

Specifically, we found the practice to be good for providing safe, well-led, effective, caring and responsive services. It was also good for providing services for older people, people with long-term conditions, people whose circumstances make them vulnerable, families, children and young people, working people and those who have recently retired and people experiencing poor mental health.

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.
• Risks to patients were assessed and well managed.
• 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 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 proactively sought feedback from staff and patients, which it acted on.

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

The provider should:

• Consider a more robust mechanism to communicate with locum GPs to inform them of changes in the practice following practice meetings.

Professor Steve Field CBE FRCP FFPH FRCGP

Chief Inspector of General Practice