Letter from the Chief Inspector of General Practice

We carried out an announced comprehensive inspection at Arden Medical Centre on 19 July 2016. The overall rating for this service is good.

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

• There was an open and transparent approach to safety and a system in place for reporting and recording significant events.
• Information about patient safety alerts was reviewed and communicated to staff by the practice manager.
• Risks to patients were assessed and well managed through practice meetings and collaborative discussions with the multi-disciplinary team. Patients’ needs were assessed and care was planned and delivered following best practice guidance.
• The practice was part of a local GP federation, a group of practices that worked together to provide care and share best practice to improve outcomes for patients.
• Patients told us they were treated with compassion, dignity and respect and they were involved in their care and decisions about their treatment.
• The practice achieved results in the National GP Patient Survey published in July 2016 that were above local and national levels.
• Information about services and how to complain was available and easy to understand. Patients told us that they knew how to complain if they needed to.
• The practice had good facilities and was well equipped to treat patients and meet their needs. This included easy access for patients who used wheelchairs and baby changing facilities.
• There was a clear leadership structure and staff told us they felt supported by management. The practice proactively sought feedback from patients, which it acted on. Staff appeared motivated to deliver high standards of care and there was evidence of team working throughout the practice.

We saw an area of outstanding practice:

• Results from the National GP Patient Survey published in July 2016 showed the practice had consistently achieved higher than local and national averages for patient feedback about the service they received and in patients’ satisfaction with how they could access care and treatment.

Professor Steve Field (CBE FRCP FFPH FRCGP) 

Chief Inspector of General Practice

We reviewed the information available to us about Arden Medical Centre on 7 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.