Letter from the Chief Inspector of General Practice

We carried out an announced comprehensive inspection at The University Health Centre on 12 November 2015. 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 an effective system in place for reporting and recording significant events.
• Risks to patients were assessed and well managed.
• Staff assessed patients’ needs and delivered care in line with current evidence based guidance. Staff had 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.
• Information about services and how to complain was available and easy to understand.
• Patients said they found it generally easy to make an appointment with a named GP. The practice was responsive to the needs of their population group by reserving numbers of appointments for booking on the day.
• The practice had good facilities and was well equipped to treat patients and meet their needs.
• The practice worked closely with the University of Huddersfield in promoting health and wellbeing, and proactively engaged with students at the beginning of their course of study.
• The practice had developed effective services in relation to sexual health and had shared this experience with other practices.
• 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.

We saw one area of outstanding practice:

The practice was responsive to the needs of a significant group from within their patient population. The practice offered screening for latent tuberculosis to new student patients and their families who came from countries where the risk of TB is high ( Latent tuberculosis or Latent TB is when a person has TB bacteria in their body but there are no symptoms, so they will not feel unwell. You cannot pass latent TB on to others, but there is a risk that you will become ill with active TB later on, especially if your immune system is weakened) . New patients who met the screening criteria were targeted at registration and were encouraged to be tested. This targeted approach saw rates of testing from this specific population group rise from 40% prior to the introduction of this new approach to 90% in 2014-2015 when 1090 patients were screened out of a total of 1245 new patients who were identified as originating from high TB risk countries. Post screening the practice took time to explain results to patients and arrange any necessary follow on activity and treatment.

Professor Steve Field (CBE FRCP FFPH FRCGP) 

Chief Inspector of General Practice