Letter from the Chief Inspector of General Practice

We carried out an announced comprehensive inspection at Bradworthy Surgery on 10 December 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 clinical 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.
• Information about services and how to complain was available and easy to understand.
• There was a clear leadership structure and staff felt supported by management. The practice 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.

We saw areas of outstanding practice:

• Appointments were tailored to meet the needs of individual people and were delivered in a way to ensure flexibility, choice and continuity of care. For example, during the lunch hour when the practice was normally closed for consultations or after surgery hours by individual arrangement.

• Feedback from patients about their care was consistently and strongly positive. This was strongly echoed in patient survey results, such as in the way nursing staff involved patients in decisions about their care.

• Data from the Quality and Outcomes Framework (QOF) showed patient outcomes above the national average, for example the most recent results showed the practice had reached 100% of the total number of points available. For example, performance for diabetes related indicators were significantly better than the national average. Nursing staff were able to give examples of personalised and tailored health advice given to patients who attended clinics for diabetes management to promote healthy lifestyles.

The areas where the provider should make improvement are:

• Develop and implement a system to check that patients have collected their prescribed medicines from designated local pick-up points.

• Develop a system to record dispensing error “near misses,” so learning from these is identified and shared.

• Ensure all staff are aware of the practice protocol in the event that the panic alert is activated.

• Consider the installation of privacy curtains in the nurse’s consultation room.

• Maintain records of informal and unstructured staff meetings.

Professor Steve Field (CBE FRCP FFPH FRCGP) 

Chief Inspector of General Practice