Letter from the Chief Inspector of General Practice

We carried out an announced comprehensive inspection at Woodgrange Medical Practice on 19 May 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 an effective system in place for reporting and recording significant events.

• Risks to patients were assessed and well managed with the exception of minor weaknesses in systems to ensure the safety of electrical equipment and contents of a medicines refrigerator.
• The practice used innovative and proactive methods to improve patient outcomes, it worked with other local providers to share best practice. 
• Feedback from patients about their care was consistently positive and data showed that the practice was performing highly when compared to practices nationally.
• 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. For example by substantially increasing GP sessions in response to a patients survey and providing daily GP cover in the reception area, re-organising the reception area, signage and queuing system to improve patients privacy and safety.
• 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.
• The practice had good facilities and was well equipped to treat patients and meet their needs and 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.
• The practice had a clear vision which had 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.
• The practice had strong and visible clinical and managerial leadership and governance arrangements.

We saw several areas of outstanding practice:

• GPs had led and delivered improved outcomes and care for patients including across the local Clinical Commissioning Group (CCG) and over wide range of clinical areas including chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), mental health, dermatology, women’s health, diabetes and asthma. The practice also ran a weekly citizens advice bureau clinics for its patients that was provided by professional welfare benefit advisers.

• The practice nurse ran various health based community groups to encourage patient’s general health, exercise and social interaction and had extended provision to other local practices. The nurse had also extended her work internationally to Kenya and attributed the success of these projects in part to the support received directly from the practice.
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  Ps showed leadership and took responsibility at an organisational level to improve local child protection arrangements. For example, both a partner GP and registrar made detailed records of child protection reporting system failures that had resulted in a lack of or delayed response from allied health and social care professionals to protect children. GPs initiated internal significant events protocols and sustained escalation of concerns until they reached persons responsible for the system. The practices ongoing commitment triggered an analysis of the system to improve child protection arrangements in the local 

  area.

However there were areas of practice where the provider should make improvements:

• Review or embed systems electrical equipment safety and medicines refrigerator checks.

Professor Steve Field (CBE FRCP FFPH FRCGP) 

Chief Inspector of General Practice

We reviewed the information available to us about Woodgrange Medical Practice on 12 June 2019. We did not find evidence of significant changes to the quality of service being provided since the last inspection. As a result, we decided not to inspect the surgery at this time. We will continue to monitor this information about this service throughout the year and may inspect the surgery when we see evidence of potential changes.