Letter from the Chief Inspector of General Practice

We carried out an announced comprehensive inspection at Copsewood Medical Centre on 29 March 2016. Overall the practice is rated as good for providing safe, effective, caring, responsive and well led services.

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

• Patients said they were treated with compassion, dignity and respect and they were involved in their care and decisions about their treatment.
• 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.
• There was an open and transparent approach to safety and an effective system in place for reporting and recording significant events.
• 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. The building had recently been extended and improved at the time of our inspection.
• There was a clear leadership structure and staff felt supported by management. Staff turnover was very low and many members of staff had worked at the practice long-term. The practice proactively sought feedback from staff and patients, which it acted on.

We saw the following area of outstanding practice:

• The practice promoted their support for carers proactively. This included: information stands at flu clinics to identify ‘hidden’ carers; the facilitation of a weekly drop-in carer advice clinic, implementing and maintaining a Carer’s Corner display board, the introduction of a ‘how to register with the practice’ as a carer page on the practice website; provided carer awareness training for staff andhealth checks for carers.

The area where the provider should make improvement is:

• Provide the Patient Participation Group (PPG) with clear guidance about their role.

Professor Steve Field CBE FRCP FFPH FRCGP

Chief Inspector of General Practice

We reviewed the information available to us about Copsewood Medical Centre on 11 June 2019. We did not find evidence of significant changes to the quality of service being provided since the last inspection. As a result, we decided not to inspect the surgery at this time. We will continue to monitor this information about this service throughout the year and may inspect the surgery when we see evidence of potential changes.