Letter from the Chief Inspector of General Practice

We carried out an announced comprehensive inspection at The Ravenscar Surgery on 10 March 2016. Overall the practice is rated as good.

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

• There was an open and transparent approach to safety and an effective system in place for reporting and recording significant events.
• Risks to patients were assessed and well managed.
• Staff assessed patients’ needs and delivered care in line with current evidence based guidance. Staff had been trained to provide them with the skills, knowledge and experience to deliver effective care and treatment.
• 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. Improvements were made to the quality of care as a result of complaints and concerns.
• Patients said they found it easy to make an appointment and 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.
• The provider was aware of and complied with the requirements of the duty of candour.

We saw an area of outstanding practice:

Following on from a pilot from the CCG a community nurse had been employed to visit housebound patients and those who were living in care homes. This gave patients continuity of care and the nurse carried out reviews of care plans and medication. The nurse was able to spend time with the staff in care homes which had resulted in less telephone queries to the practice.

Professor Steve Field (CBE FRCP FFPH FRCGP) 

Chief Inspector of General Practice

During the inspection we spoke with six patients, the GP, the practice manager and to administrative staff. We also spoke with two representatives of the patient participation group.

Patients we spoe with during the inspection were very happy with the care, support and treatment that they received. One person said, “It’s a really good practice. The doctor is really nice. She listens to what you have to say and she understands. I’ve had some quite serious health problems and I have been well supported.”

We saw that staff treated patients with dignity and respect. We saw that patients had their care, support and treatment needs assessed and that treatment plans were in place.

We saw that patients were treated in safe, accessible surroundings and that regular checks were carried out to monitor the quality of the service provided.

We reviewed the information available to us about Dr Kathryn Boyd on 14 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.