Letter from the Chief Inspector of General Practice

We carried out an announced comprehensive inspection at The Whitehorse Practice on 31 March 2016. The overall rating for the practice was good, however the practice was rated as requires improvement for providing safe services. The full comprehensive report on the March 2016 inspection can be found by selecting the ‘all reports’ link for The Whitehorse Practice on our website at www.cqc.org.uk.

This inspection was a desk-based review carried out on 13 February 2017 to confirm that the practice had carried out their plan to meet the legal requirements in relation to the breaches in regulations that we identified in our previous inspection on 31 March 2016. This report covers our findings in relation to those requirements and also additional improvements made since our last inspection.

Overall the practice maintains its rating of good, with the practice now rated as good for providing safe services.

Our key findings were as follows:

• The practice had carried out a full risk assessment against the chaperoning service and now only provided the service using clinical staff who were trained for the role and had checks carried out through the disclosure and barring service (DBS).

• The practice had carried out portable appliance testing, ensuring all electrical appliances were safe to use.

• The practice had reviewed and updated their recruitment policy to include a comprehensive recruitment and induction checklist, covering areas such as proof of identity and references from previous employers.

• The practice carried out monthly fire alarm checks and fire evacuation drills.

• Practice policies and plans had been reviewed and updated since our last inspection.

• The practice had developed a business plan and strategy for the practice, using templates from the local clinical commissioning group (CCG) Practice Development and Delivery Scheme and had submitted assurances against the template to the CCG.

• The arrangements for recording and disseminating actions and outcomes from clinical meetings, including clinical standards and best practice guidelines had improved and we saw evidence of clinical meeting minutes and an alerts log used by the practice.

• The practice quality improvement programme had been reviewed and updated and we saw evidence of regular clinical audits undertaken and planned for the future.

• Health care assistants had been reminded of processes and procedures for escalating concerns and we saw evidence in clinical meetings that patients with abnormal blood pressures had been escalated to GPs for review.

• The practice had reviewed how patients were informed of the availability of a room for private conversations if required and had produced a poster for the reception area.

Professor Steve Field CBE FRCP FFPH FRCGP 

Chief Inspector of General Practice

Letter from the Chief Inspector of General Practice

We carried out an announced comprehensive inspection at The Whitehorse Practice on 31 March 2016. The overall rating for the practice was good, however the practice was rated as requires improvement for providing safe services. The full comprehensive report on the March 2016 inspection can be found by selecting the ‘all reports’ link for The Whitehorse Practice on our website at www.cqc.org.uk.

This inspection was a desk-based review carried out on 13 February 2017 to confirm that the practice had carried out their plan to meet the legal requirements in relation to the breaches in regulations that we identified in our previous inspection on 31 March 2016. This report covers our findings in relation to those requirements and also additional improvements made since our last inspection.

Overall the practice maintains its rating of good, with the practice now rated as good for providing safe services.

Our key findings were as follows:

• The practice had carried out a full risk assessment against the chaperoning service and now only provided the service using clinical staff who were trained for the role and had checks carried out through the disclosure and barring service (DBS).

• The practice had carried out portable appliance testing, ensuring all electrical appliances were safe to use.

• The practice had reviewed and updated their recruitment policy to include a comprehensive recruitment and induction checklist, covering areas such as proof of identity and references from previous employers.

• The practice carried out monthly fire alarm checks and fire evacuation drills.

• Practice policies and plans had been reviewed and updated since our last inspection.

• The practice had developed a business plan and strategy for the practice, using templates from the local clinical commissioning group (CCG) Practice Development and Delivery Scheme and had submitted assurances against the template to the CCG.

• The arrangements for recording and disseminating actions and outcomes from clinical meetings, including clinical standards and best practice guidelines had improved and we saw evidence of clinical meeting minutes and an alerts log used by the practice.

• The practice quality improvement programme had been reviewed and updated and we saw evidence of regular clinical audits undertaken and planned for the future.

• Health care assistants had been reminded of processes and procedures for escalating concerns and we saw evidence in clinical meetings that patients with abnormal blood pressures had been escalated to GPs for review.

• The practice had reviewed how patients were informed of the availability of a room for private conversations if required and had produced a poster for the reception area.

Professor Steve Field CBE FRCP FFPH FRCGP 

Chief Inspector of General Practice

We carried out an inspection on the 02 July 2014 in response to concerning information received prior to the inspection. The concerns related to the complaints procedure.

At the inspection, people we spoke with were aware of the information posters relating to raising concerns and the majority of people were happy with the care they received. One person we spoke to said "the surgery is busy but staff are helpful and they had always managed to get an appointment when they needed". Although another patient told us that they had experienced some difficulty in getting through on the phone to get an appointment.

We found that there was information available on the complaints procedure posted within the waiting areas and at reception. The practice had a policy in place and maintained a log of all complaints received.

During the inspection we spoke with the registered manager, they were a General Practitioner (GP) at the practice. We also spoke with the practice manager, a health care assistant, a receptionist and three people who used the service.

People who used the service said the GP’s were very understanding and listened to what they had to say. Typical comments included “The GP’s always listen to what I have to say and I get the right treatment”, “This practice saved my life. The staff really care about what happens to people”, and “I think the GP’s listen to what I have to say, they explain things to me and I always get good treatment but sometimes I feel they are a bit engrossed with the computer screen”.

We saw that the practice had safeguarding policies that related to adults and children. We saw the practice was clean and well maintained throughout. We saw that the practice had effective systems in place to regularly assess and monitor the quality of service that people received.