Letter from the Chief Inspector of General Practice

This practice is rated as Good overall. (The practice was previous inspected on 24 September 2015. At this time it was rated– Good)

The key questions are rated as:

Are services safe? – Good

Are services effective? – Good

Are services caring? – Good

Are services responsive? – Good

Are services well-led? - Good

As part of our inspection process, we also look at the quality of care for specific population groups. The population groups are rated as:

Older People – Good

People with long-term conditions – Good

Families, children and young people – Good

Working age people (including those recently retired and students – Good

People whose circumstances may make them vulnerable – Good

People experiencing poor mental health (including people with dementia) - Good

We carried out an announced comprehensive inspection at The Medical Centre, Camelford on 18 December 2017 as part of our inspection programme.

At this inspection we found:

• The practice had clear systems to manage risk so that safety incidents were less likely to happen. When incidents did happen, the practice learned from them and improved their processes.
• The practice routinely reviewed the effectiveness and appropriateness of the care it provided. It ensured that care and treatment was delivered according to evidence- based guidelines.
• Staff involved and treated patients with compassion, kindness, dignity and respect.
• Patients found the appointment system easy to use and reported that they were able to access care when they needed it.
• There was a strong focus on continuous learning and improvement at all levels of the organisation.

The areas where the provider should make improvements are:

• The provider should explore ways of identifying carers.

Professor Steve Field (CBE FRCP FFPH FRCGP) 

Chief Inspector of General Practice

Letter from the Chief Inspector of General Practice

This practice is rated as Good overall. (The practice was previous inspected on 24 September 2015. At this time it was rated– Good)

The key questions are rated as:

Are services safe? – Good

Are services effective? – Good

Are services caring? – Good

Are services responsive? – Good

Are services well-led? - Good

As part of our inspection process, we also look at the quality of care for specific population groups. The population groups are rated as:

Older People – Good

People with long-term conditions – Good

Families, children and young people – Good

Working age people (including those recently retired and students – Good

People whose circumstances may make them vulnerable – Good

People experiencing poor mental health (including people with dementia) - Good

We carried out an announced comprehensive inspection at The Medical Centre, Camelford on 18 December 2017 as part of our inspection programme.

At this inspection we found:

• The practice had clear systems to manage risk so that safety incidents were less likely to happen. When incidents did happen, the practice learned from them and improved their processes.
• The practice routinely reviewed the effectiveness and appropriateness of the care it provided. It ensured that care and treatment was delivered according to evidence- based guidelines.
• Staff involved and treated patients with compassion, kindness, dignity and respect.
• Patients found the appointment system easy to use and reported that they were able to access care when they needed it.
• There was a strong focus on continuous learning and improvement at all levels of the organisation.

The areas where the provider should make improvements are:

• The provider should explore ways of identifying carers.

Professor Steve Field (CBE FRCP FFPH FRCGP) 

Chief Inspector of General Practice

For this inspection we visited The Medical Centre and one of the branch locations, St Breward. We spoke with Dr Nash, the deputy practice manager, the practice nurse and reception staff. We spoke with patients who were visiting both surgeries. We also spoke with a number of patients over the telephone in order to ask for their view about the services they had received.

All of the patients we spoke with were complimentary about and satisfied with the care and treatment they received. Patients told us they had been involved in the decisions made about their treatment. Comments included, "Dr Nash is excellent. He is extremely thorough and I have the utmost confidence in him”. Patients told us staff were respectful. One patient said " The staff are always very polite and do not ask me what I would consider to be inappropriate or time wasting questions”.

Patients told us that the staff were professional, caring and helpful at all times. During our visit we observed staff at both The Medical Centre in Camelford and St Breward. We saw that staff interacted well, comforted people, spoke respectfully to them and worked to meet their needs at all times.

We found that measures were in place to manage infection control. The surgery buildings were generally well maintained.

We saw that there were systems in place to monitor the quality of the service provided and patients felt able to give feedback about the services they received