Letter from the Chief Inspector of General Practice

We carried out an announced comprehensive inspection at Alston Medical Practice on 3 December 2015. 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. The practice had clear evidence of the learning opportunities taken as a result of the monitoring of 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 the skills, knowledge and experience to deliver effective care and treatment.
• Staff were encouraged to keep up to date and to take training opportunities whenever they came along.
• Patients said they found it easy to get through to the practice on the telephone, and felt they were treated with compassion, dignity and respect by all staff. Feedback from patients and stakeholders was continually positive about the way staff treated them.
• There was a clear leadership structure and staff felt well supported by the management team and GP’s.
• The provider had an effective policy in place for Duty of Candour and was open and transparent in its dealings with patients.
• The practice had a multi-skilled workforce with all staff being able to support each other flexibly in different roles as and when needed.
• A practice Patient Participation Group (PPG) had been in place since 2013 and had managed to attract a wide age range of members.
• Patients were truly respected and valued as individuals and were empowered as partners in their care.

Professor Steve Field CBE FRCP FFPH FRCGPChief Inspector of General Practice

Alston Medical Practice provides primary medical services from Monday to Friday for patients in the Alston Moor area of Cumbria. It is a rural dispensing practice and is attached to the Ruth Lancaster James Community Hospital in the town of Alston. It is registered with the Care Quality Commission to provide the following regulated activities: treatment of disease, disorder and injury; diagnostics and screening procedures; family planning; maternity and midwifery services and surgical procedures.

We spoke with 20 patients, two members of the practice’s Patient Participation Group (PPG) and six members of staff from the practice. We also spoke with carers and family members, as well as staff who worked in the community hospital and the local community pharmacist. We spoke with and interviewed the Practice Manager, two GP’s, a Practice Nurse and staff carrying out reception and dispensing of medication duties.

All the patients we spoke with were very complimentary about the service they received. The results of a recent patient survey also showed they were consistently pleased with the service they received.

The staff team were fully committed to providing good care to their patients and there was a strong team-working ethic among the practice staff.

The provider worked well with other agencies and had developed a positive and effective working relationship with the local community pharmacy.

We reviewed the information available to us about Alston Medical Practice on 9 May 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.