This practice is rated as Good overall.

(Avenham Surgery is a new registered practice and this is the first inspection of the service under this provider.)

The key questions are rated as:

Are services safe? – Good

Are services effective? – Good

Are services caring? – Good

Are services responsive? – Good

Are services well-led? - Good

We carried out an announced comprehensive inspection at Avenham Surgery on 18 May 2018. This inspection was carried out under Section 60 of the Health and Social Care Act 2008 as part of our regulatory functions. The inspection was planned to check whether the provider was meeting the legal requirements and regulations associated with the Health and Social Care Act 2008, to look at the overall quality of the service and to provide a rating for the service under the Care Act 2014.

At this inspection we found:

• The practice had clear systems to manage risk so safety incidents were less likely to happen. When incidents did happen, the practice learned from them and improved their processes.
• The practice routinely reviewed the effectiveness and appropriateness of the care it provided. It ensured care and treatment was delivered according to evidence- based guidelines.
• Staff involved and treated patients with compassion, kindness, dignity and respect.
• Patients found the appointment system easy to use and reported they were able to access care when they needed it.
• There was a strong focus on continuous learning and improvement at all levels of the organisation. We saw many areas where improvements had been made since the new provider took over the practice and we saw considerable evidence of enthusiasm and drive by the practice to deliver patient-centred care.

We saw one area of outstanding practice:

• The practice had appointed a “practice media champion” to support and maintain the new practice website and social media page. They were given protected time every week for this work. They used the online sites to engage with patients and promote health awareness, co-ordinating the selected topics with national campaigns and local initiatives. They kept a table of this work to ensure the sites were up to date and relevant.

The areas where the provider should make improvements are:

• Continue to follow the new protocol for managing communications coming into the practice, including GP audit of the process.
• Implement the new risk assessment tools to assure the day-to-day safety of the surgery premises.
• Continue to implement the new staff training programme.
• Consider keeping copies of patient care plans in patient own homes for patients with care plans in place.
• Continue to identify and support patients who are carers.

Professor Steve Field CBE FRCP FFPH FRCGP
Chief Inspector of General Practice