We carried out an announced comprehensive inspection at Wingate Medical Centre on 13 April 2016. 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 been trained to provide them with 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. Feedback from patients about their care was consistently positive.

• The practice implemented suggestions for improvements and made changes to the way it delivered services as a consequence of feedback from patients and from the patient participation group.
• The practice had introduced a new appointment model called a ‘Physician health assessment by telephone, (Phat.) This meant that all patients ringing the practice for an appointment received a telephone call back from a GP to discuss their needs and requests. The majority of patients liked the appointment system whereby they always spoke to a GP when needing an appointment.
• The practice had good facilities and was well equipped to treat patients and meet their needs.

• The practice had strong and visible clinical and managerial leadership and governance arrangements. The practice had a clear vision with quality and safety as its top priority. The strategy to deliver this vision had been produced with stakeholders and was regularly reviewed and discussed with staff.

• There was a high level of constructive engagement with staff and a high level of staff satisfaction.

• The practice invested in employing a diverse group of staff such as their own pharmacist and data technician to help them manage and develop their services.

• The practice used innovative and proactive methods to improve patient outcomes. The practice were proactive in developing their service and introducing new models of support such as their ‘Compound assessment model’ to help benefit their patients and their introduction to an intervention known as ‘Mindfulness.’
• The provider was aware of and complied with the requirements of the duty of candour.

There were areas of outstanding practice as follows:

• The practice had recently introduced a new model of support, the ‘Compound assessment model.’ The model supported a detailed review each year for patients with long term conditions and included four different professionals including: a health care assistant, a behaviourist, a practice nurse and a GP. The aim of the review was to provide a one stop shop helping patients to understand their condition and improve the way their condition was managed both at the practice and at home.

• The practice had introduced a series of clinics and services, including phlebotomy, travel vaccines, midwifery clinics, talking therapies provided by a councellor from the Primary Care Psychological Therapies Service (IAPT) and mindfulness sessions for supporting the wellbeing of patients. Some of the services provided onsite meant that patients could have their needs met at the local practice rather than travelling to the local hospital/external clinics.

The areas where the provider should make improvement are:

• Review recording systems for significant events so the outcomes and actions of all events are clearly identified and shared within staff teams.

• Develop a recording system for the management of blank prescriptions to show a clear audit trail of how they were managed.

• Review the strategic planning of completed audits for the practice.

Letter from the Chief Inspector of General Practice

Professor Steve Field (CBE FRCP FFPH FRCGP) 

Chief Inspector of General Practice

We spoke with five people who used the service. People told us that they felt respected by the staff at Wingate Medical Centre and were involved in decisions about their care and treatment. Their comments included:

"We have a voice, the doctors listen to you."

"It is a very caring surgery."

"The doctors have a lot of patience."

"The staff are very helpful."

We found that care and treatment was assessed, planned and delivered in order to meet individual needs. The provider worked with others to ensure that effective care was coordinated and delivered in a timely manner.

We saw evidence that staff were well supervised and supported with opportunities for further training and development of roles.

A patient participation group functioned well within the practice .The practice was proactive in reviewing its processes and had well developed plans for monitoring the effectiveness and quality of service delivery.