Letter from the Chief Inspector of General Practice

We carried out an announced comprehensive inspection at Bennetts End Surgery on 3 November 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. However some aspects of managing high risk medication needed strengthening.
• 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. However there was not an accessible summary of training records for the practice.
• All staff had received an appraisal within the last 12 months.
• 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.
• Patients said they found it easy to make an appointment with a GP and there was continuity of care, with urgent appointments available the same day.
• The practice had established systems to support carers.
• Patient satisfaction with telephone access to appointments was lower than CCG and national averages.
• The practice had good facilities and was well equipped to treat patients and meet their needs.
• There was a leadership structure and staff felt supported by management.
• The practice proactively sought feedback from staff and patients, which it acted on.
• The provider was aware of and complied with the requirements of the duty of candour.

The areas where the provider should make improvement are:

• Develop a comprehensive approach to assessing infection control compliance.
• Continue to monitor the recently implemented system to manage patients that were offered anticoagulants but were not taking this medicine including evidence of any reasoning and or rationale.
• Develop a record keeping system so staff training records are readily available.
• Continue to identify and support carers.
• Continue to monitor measures implemented to improve national patient survey results, for example satisfaction results in relation to telephone access to appointments.
• Continue to encourage patients to attend cancer screening programmes.

Professor Steve Field (CBE FRCP FFPH FRCGP) 

Chief Inspector of General Practice