Letter from the Chief Inspector of General Practice

We carried out this comprehensive inspection on 18 March 2015.

Overall, we rated this practice as good.

Our key findings 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.
• The practice provided a good standard of care, led by current best practice guidelines.
• Patients were treated with dignity and respect.
• The practice provided additional appointments during busy times.
• The buildings were clean, and the risk of infection was kept to a minimum.
• The practice provided effective care and support to people in vulnerable circumstances, such as people with drug and alcohol problems and those from travelling communities.

However, there were also areas of practice where the provider needs to make improvements. There was a lack of information readily available to patients in the reception area. This means patients were not easily aware of additional help and support services and how to actively engage with the practice to provide feedback.

The provider should:

Review the information available to patients in the reception area. It should ensure sufficient information is available to patients on health promotion and prevention. It should also ensure that information about complaints procedures and opportunities for patients to provide feedback are easily accessible.

Professor Steve Field (CBE FRCP FFPH FRCGP) 

Chief Inspector of General Practice

We spent time during our visits observing how the practice worked and speaking to the General Practitioner (GP), patients, staff and stakeholders. Patients told us they felt their needs were met by the practice and we saw positive exchanges between patients and staff.

Care and treatment was planned and delivered in a way that was intended to ensure people's safety and welfare. We saw the general practitioners were following national guidance as well as local Clinical Commissioning Group (CCG) guidelines to make sure they were following best practice.

We saw the practice was up to date with infection control policies and procedures and when we spoke with staff they had a clear understanding how to reduce the risk of cross infection. The surgery was clean and well maintained.

Staff were provided with support, guidance and training to make sure they were able to carry out their role safely and monitored their performance to maintain the standards.

The provider took steps to make sure they had an effective system to regularly assess and monitor the quality of service that people receive.

Staff we spoke with understood safeguarding procedures.