This practice is rated as Good overall. (Previous inspection April 2015 – Good)

The key questions are rated as:

Are services safe? – Good

Are services effective? – Good

Are services caring? – Good

Are services responsive? – Good

Are services well-led? - Good

We carried out an announced comprehensive inspection at Coleridge Medical Centre on 12 June 2018 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.

We saw one area of outstanding practice:

The practice had instigated a scheme whereby patients were able to present a flu vaccination voucher at any appointment and receive their flu vaccination. This saved patients the inconvenience of having to attend a specific flu vaccination clinic. An audit of this scheme found that 1,256 vouchers had been used by patients to obtain their vaccination. This represented an increase of approximately 4% on the previous year.

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 Coleridge Medical Practice on 21 April 2015.

Overall the practice is rated as good.

Specifically, we found the practice to be good for providing safe, well-led, effective, caring and responsive services. It was also good for providing services for the older people, people with long term conditions, people whose circumstances may make them vulnerable, working age people and outstanding for young people and families.

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, appropriately reviewed and addressed.
• Risks to patients were assessed and well managed.
• Patients’ needs were assessed and care was planned and delivered following best practice guidance. Staff had received training appropriate to their roles and any further training needs had been identified and planned.
• 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 found it easy to make an appointment with a named GP and that 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.

We saw several areas of outstanding practice including:

• The practice encouraged young people from the local secondary school to be part of the patient participation group (PPG). Teenhealth Group at Kings School had two representatives from each year group who promoted teenage health around the school. Teenhealth sent representatives to the PPG (four students attended last year). They attended meetings to maintain links with the whole PPG group and to encourage ideas about how the practice can work together with them on health issues and health topics.

• The practice were proactive in supporting carers. They put together a small team of staff to raise the profile of carers and the support available to them. This group comprised of a GP lead, practice nurses, healthcare assistants and an administrator. The group met often to discuss issues and share ideas. Coleridge Medical Centre had been asked to share its experience with other practices and encouraged other practices to nominate an enthusiastic GP lead and form a practice carers team. The practice had received an award from the Royal College of General Practitioners (RCGP) for this work.

Professor Steve Field (CBE FRCP FFPH FRCGP) 

Chief Inspector of General Practice