Letter from the Chief Inspector of General Practice

We carried out an announced comprehensive inspection at Wilson Street Surgery on 9 March 2016. Overall the practice is rated as outstanding.

Our key findings across all the areas we inspected were as follows:

• There was an open and transparent approach to safety and effective systems in place to report and record significant events.
• Risks to patients were assessed and 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. A number of clinical staff had undertaken additional training to enhance their skills and had developed areas of special interest to support them in taking lead roles within the practice.
• Feedback from patients regarding their care and treatment was positive. 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. Improvements were made to the quality of care as a result of complaints and concerns.
• Although some patients reported it could be difficult to get through to the practice by telephone, they said they found it easy to make an appointment with a GP and there was continuity of care, 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 understanding of the needs of the local population and services were offered to meet these needs. The practice was committed to removing barriers to access for the most vulnerable patients and regularly provided outreach sessions at the local homeless shelter.
• There was a clear leadership structure and staff felt supported by management. Staff highlighted the supportive culture within the practice.
• The practice proactively sought feedback from staff and patients, which it acted on.

We saw several areas of outstanding practice:

• The practice demonstrated a strong commitment to improving access to healthcare for people who were vulnerable. For example the practice provided regular outreach sessions at a local homeless shelter and also provided flu clinics at a local day centre for people who were considered vulnerable. Feedback from community based staff working with vulnerable patients was positive about the service offered by the practice.
• There was a commitment to the identification and support of carers within the practice. The practice had a wide range of available information to support carers and used all opportunities to identify new carers. The practice had identified over 4% of their practice population as carers. In addition to offering health checks and flu vaccinations, events were organised to support and identify carers which coincided with carers week and mini pamper sessions were provided.

The areas where the provider should make improvements are:

• Continue to review telephone access for patients to improve the ease of patients contacting the practice by telephone.

Professor Steve Field (CBE FRCP FFPH FRCGP) 

Chief Inspector of General Practice