Letter from the Chief Inspector of General Practice

This practice is rated as Good overall. (Previous inspection 11/06/2015 – Good)

The key questions are rated as:

Are services safe? Good

Are services effective? Good

Are services caring? Outstanding

Are services responsive? Good

Are services well-led? Good

As part of our inspection process, we also look at the quality of care for specific population groups. The population groups are rated as:

Older People – Good

People with long-term conditions – Good

Families, children and young people – Good

Working age people (including those recently retired and students – Good

People whose circumstances may make them vulnerable – Good

People experiencing poor mental health (including people with dementia) - Good

We carried out an announced comprehensive inspection at Dr Bannatyne & Partners on 29 November 2017 as part of our inspection programme,

At this inspection we found:

• The practice had clear systems to manage risk so that 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 that 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 that 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.

The area where the provider should make improvement is:

• The practice should consider the results of the GP patient survey for access and make improvements.

Professor Steve Field (CBE FRCP FFPH FRCGP) 

Chief Inspector of General Practice

Letter from the Chief Inspector of General Practice

We carried out an announced comprehensive inspection at Dr Bannatyne and Partners on 11 June 2015. Overall the practice is rated as good.

Specifically, we found the practice to be good for providing safe, effective and responsive services and for being well led. It was outstanding for providing caring services. It was also good for providing services for all the population groups.

Our key findings across all the areas we inspected were as follows:

• Staff understood and fulfilled their responsibilities to raise concerns, and to report incidents and near misses. Information about safety was recorded, monitored, reviewed and addressed.
• Systems were in place to monitor safety and respond to risk.
• Risks to patients were assessed and well managed.
• Medicines were safely managed.
• Patients’ needs were assessed and care was planned and delivered following best practice guidance.
• Feedback from people who use the service and stakeholders was continually positive about the way staff treated people. The majority of comments from patients were extremely positive about the service patients experienced. 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.
• The practice had good facilities and was well equipped to treat patients and meet their needs.
• Some patients said they would have to wait for a routine appointment and to see a GP of choice. Emergency appointments were always available.
• Patients told us they never felt rushed in their appointment. Records showed the practice had increased the flexibility and length of time from 10 minutes for their GP appointments to 12 minutes and 15 minutes for the duty doctor.
• 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 practice had identified their vision which was promoted throughout the practice.
• There was an effective governance framework, which focussed on delivering good quality care.

We saw several areas of outstanding practice including:

• Staff recognised patients emotional and social needs were as important as their physical needs. Staff provided us with many examples and we saw evidence to show how patients were supported emotionally with their care and treatment. For example GPs had offered and had taken patients to hospital appointments when they required help and support emotionally with their care and treatment.
• When patients with a learning disability were recalled to the practice for a health check, they were sent a specific questionnaire in an easy read format for the patient to complete and a questionnaire for their carer if deemed appropriate. Patients and carers were encouraged to bring these to their appointment. Appointments were confirmed via the telephone to ensure the correct person had been made aware of the appointment.

Professor Steve Field (CBE FRCP FFPH FRCGP) 

Chief Inspector of General Practice