Letter from the Chief Inspector of General Practice

We carried out an announced comprehensive inspection at Diadem Medical Practice on 25 August 2015.

Overall the practice is rated as good.

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

• Urgent appointments were available the same day.
• The practice had good facilities including disabled access which included a lift to allow access to first floor consulting rooms.
• Information about services and how to complain was available in the practice leaflet and on their website. The practice sought patient views about improvements that could be made to the service.
• The practice proactively sought to educate their patients to manage their medical conditions and improve their lifestyles by having additional in house services available. These included 24 hour blood pressure monitoring and long term conditions clinics.
• There were systems in place to reduce risks to patient safety for example, infection control procedures.
• Patients’ needs were assessed and care was planned and delivered following best practice guidance. Staff had received training appropriate to their roles.
• The practice made good use of audits and had shared information from their audits with staff to promote better patient outcomes.

However there were areas of practice where the provider needs to make improvements.

Importantly the provider should:

• Ensure all staff are aware of the business emergency arrangements including contact numbers from the business continuity plan and staff to call.
• Ensure all staff are aware of the whistleblowing policy and procedures.
• Ensure the designated Infection Control lead is fully aware of their defined responsibilities.
• Ensure all staff training for Infection Control and the training is also included as part of the practice induction process.

Ensure all multi-disciplinary health professional reviews and meetings are consistently recorded.

Professor Steve Field (CBE FRCP FFPH FRCGP) 

Chief Inspector of General Practice