This practice is rated as Good overall. (Previous inspection 4 November 2014 – 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

We carried out an unannounced comprehensive inspection at Wellington Medical Centre on 24 May 2018 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. They ensured that care and treatment was delivered according to evidence- based guidelines.
• Staff involved and treated patients with compassion, kindness, dignity and respect.
• There was a strong focus on continuous learning, mentorship and improvement at all levels of the organisation.
• The practice was in the process of implementing an initiative called ‘House of Care’. A holistic approach to managing patients with long term conditions to be more informed and involved in their care and a shared approach to providing the care and treatment they needed.
• The practice worked with other local health, social care and voluntary services. For example, the Taunton and Area Wellbeing Service to provide additional support in the community, signposting and enabling patients to take better control of their health and wellbeing.
• The practice initiated a project with Weston Power, Western Water and Taunton Borough Council and was aimed at patients with long term conditions to improve some of their living environments (cold homes) by signposting them to other organisations for support to initiate change in their homes

The areas where the provider should make improvements are:

• Review arrangements for maintaining a list of those staff who had attended fire drills to ensure that all staff had participated.
• Review arrangements to continue maintaining the records of the training achieved by the clinicians.
• Continue to review the arrangements for their mental health register, those patients diagnosed with schizophrenia, bipolar affective disorder and other psychoses so that they had a comprehensive, agreed care plan documented in the previous 12 months.
• Review arrangements for maintaining a consistent use of consent forms by clinicians for the provision of treatment.

Professor Steve Field CBE FRCP FFPH FRCGPChief Inspector of General Practice

Letter from the Chief Inspector of General Practice

We carried out a comprehensive inspection visit to Wellington Medical Centre on 4 November 2014.

We found Wellington Medical Centre provided the care and treatment patients needed to meet their needs. We found patients using this service experienced a good outcome.

Our key findings were as follows:

• Staff understood and fulfilled their responsibilities to raise concerns, and to report incidents and near misses. Lessons were learned and communicated widely to support improvement.

• Patients with long term health care needs were monitored effectively and there was evidence that the practice worked well with other professionals and multidisciplinary teams to ensure their needs were met.

• Patients were positive about the care and treatment they had. Patients said they felt the practice offered an excellent and caring service

• The practice staff worked with organisations outside of health and social care provision. The GP who was the safeguarding lead for the practice was actively involved in building relationships with the local secondary school. This included liaison with teachers and police to improve support to young people in the local area. One GP kept links with the local Stroke Club, another with the League of Friends for the local Community Hospital.

• We found details of the vision and practice values were included in all aspects of business meetings and disseminated to the staff team and aspects shared with the PPG (patient participation group).

However, there were also an area of practice where the provider needs to make improvements.

The provider should:

• There should be a risk assessment process for staff that do not routinely have a Disclosure and Barring checks (DBS) when employed.

Professor Steve Field CBE FRCP FFPH FRCGP

Chief Inspector of General Practice

Professor Steve Field (CBE FRCP FFPH FRCGP) 

Chief Inspector of General Practice