Letter from the Chief Inspector of General Practice

We carried out an announced comprehensive inspection at Coxhoe Medical Practice on 11 August 2015. Overall the practice is rated as good.

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 was available and easy to understand.
• Patients said they found it easy to make an appointment, although not with a named GP. There were urgent and routine appointments available the same day for GPs and Nurses.
• 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 Practice Nurses had recently received an award for excellent practice in smoking cessation results.

Professor Steve Field (CBE FRCP FFPH FRCGP) 

Chief Inspector of General Practice