Letter from the Chief Inspector of General Practice

We carried out an announced comprehensive inspection at Cannington Health Centre on 5 January 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 a comprehensive system in place for reporting and recording significant events.
• Risks to patients were assessed and well managed.
• The practice was taking part in the NHS sign up to safety quality improvement project.
• 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.
• In December 2015 the practice was awarded an excellent grading by Health Education England for the training of trainee GPs.
• Patients said they were treated with compassion, dignity and respect and they were involved in their care and decisions about their treatment.
• The practice implemented suggestions for improvements and made changes to the way it delivered services as a consequence of feedback from patients and from the patient participation group.
• Information about services and how to complain was available and easy to understand.
• Patients said they generally 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 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.
• The provider was aware of and complied with the requirements of the Duty of Candour. (Duty of Candour is a legal duty to ensure providers are open and transparent with people who use services).

The areas where the provider should make improvements are:

• Improve written procedures for non-dispensary staff for the collection of medicines by patients.
• Improve incident recording for medicine incidents within the dispensary to include analysis of the event and action taken to prevent further incidents.

Professor Steve Field (CBE FRCP FFPH FRCGP) 

Chief Inspector of General Practice

During our inspection of Cannington Health Centre we spoke with 10 patients who visited the surgery. Eight out of 10 patients told us they were very happy with the service they received. One person said “people are treated like people here”. Two patients felt frustrated that solutions to their health problems were not always solved quickly by their GP.

Patients told us they had been involved in the decisions made about their treatment and were respected by staff. One person said “I have a phobia about needles. They don’t laugh at you. They really understand and gave me reassurance”.

We spoke with two GPs, the lead nurse, the team leader for the dispensary and the assistant to the practice manager. Staff told us they felt well supported by management and were encouraged to keep their skills and knowledge up to date.

Staff were clear about what action they would take if they saw or suspected any abuse. Staff had completed training and read the surgery policies and procedures. Staff were aware of their responsibilities to report suspected abuse to the appropriate authorities.

Patients were able to obtain their prescriptions easily from the surgery dispensary and there were protocols in place to ensure medicines were dispensed safely. Emergency equipment and medicines were well managed at the surgery.

The surgery was organised and well managed. There were effective systems in place to monitor the quality of the service provided and patients felt able to give feedback about the service they received.