Letter from the Chief Inspector of General Practice

We carried out an announced comprehensive inspection at Bowling Hall Medical Practice on 17 November 2015. 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. Staff understood their responsibilities to raise concerns and report incidents and near misses.
• 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.
• 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.
• Patients said they could book urgent appointments when they needed to and these were often available the same day.
• The practice had good facilities and was well equipped to treat patients and meet their needs.
• There was a clear leadership structure and staff felt supported by management. The practice proactively sought feedback from staff and patients, which it acted on. We found positive working relationships between the staff.
• The provider was aware of and complied with the requirements of the Duty of Candour.

We saw areas outstanding practice:

• The practice had good links with University and led on an undergraduate and post-graduate scheme for nurses to train to become practice nurses.

• The practice had gained awards from The Royal College of General Practitioners (The Quality Practice Award) and Investors in People.

• The practice held multi-agency Common Assessment Framework (CAF) meetings at the surgery, a process for recording concerns about a vulnerable child to help identify in the early stages their needs and promote a co-ordinated approach to service provision.

• The practice worked closely with a charity “Carers Resource” who commented regarding the high level of commitment in the practice towards carers. They had a register of carers at the practice, held information sessions and also had a dedicated carer’s notice board. As a result more patients were supported.

The areas where the provider should make improvement are:

• The practice should undertake regular second clinical audits cycles to keep people safe, including their minor surgery suite i.e. having done an audit and introduced changes the practice should do a re audit.

Professor Steve Field (CBE FRCP FFPH FRCGP) 

Chief Inspector of General Practice