Letter from the Chief Inspector of General Practice

We carried out an announced comprehensive inspection of Dr Starling and Partners on 19 February 2015. The practice was found to require improvement for providing safe services.

Following the comprehensive inspection, the practice sent us an action plan detailing what they would do to meet the regulations in relation to the following:

• Ensure that all staff are trained in safeguarding of vulnerable adults.
• Ensure staff have appropriate policies, procedures and guidance to carry out their role in relation to safeguarding vulnerable adults.
• Ensure criminal records checks are undertaken via the Disclosure and Barring Service for staff trained to provide chaperone services or that risk assessment is undertaken to establish the reason why those staff should not be subject to a criminal records check.

Our previous report also highlighted areas where the practice should improve:

• Include advocacy and ombudsman details in information given to patients about how to make a complaint.

We undertook this focused inspection on 19 August 2015 to check that the provider had followed their action plan and to confirm that they now met the regulations. At this inspection we found the practice was good for providing safe services.

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

• All staff had received training in the safeguarding of vulnerable adults.
• The practice had developed appropriate policies and guidance to support staff in the safeguarding of vulnerable adults.
• The practice had undertaken criminal records checks via the Disclosure and Barring Service for all staff trained to provide chaperone services.
• Advocacy and ombudsman details were provided to patients to support them in the making a complaint.

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 of Dr Starling and Partners, also known as Meridian Surgery, on 19 February 2015. We visited the practice location at Anchor Healthcare Centre, Meridian Way, Peacehaven, East Sussex, BN10 8NF.

Overall the practice is rated as good. Specifically, we found the practice to be good for providing well-led, effective, caring and responsive services. It required improvement for providing safe services. It was good for providing services for older people, people with long-term conditions, families, children and young people, working age people (including those recently retired and students), people whose circumstances may make them vulnerable and people experiencing poor mental health (including people with dementia).

The inspection team spoke with staff and patients and reviewed policies and procedures. The practice understood the needs of the local population and engaged effectively with other services. The practice was committed to providing high quality patient care and patients told us they felt the practice was caring and responsive to their needs.

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

• 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. However, staff had not received training in the safeguarding of vulnerable adults.
• Patients said they were treated with compassion, dignity and respect and they were involved in care and decisions about their treatment.
• The practice engaged effectively with other services to ensure continuity of care for patients.
• The practice understood the needs of the local population and planned services to meet those needs.

There were also areas of practice where the provider needs to make improvements.

Importantly, the provider must:

• Ensure that all staff are trained in safeguarding of vulnerable adults.
• Ensure staff have appropriate policies, procedures and guidance to carry out their role in relation to safeguarding vulnerable adults.
• Ensure criminal records checks are undertaken via the Disclosure and Barring Service for staff trained to provide chaperone services or that risk assessment is undertaken to establish the reason why those staff should not be subject to a criminal records check.

In addition the provider should:

• Include advocacy and ombudsman details in information given to patients about how to make a complaint.

Professor Steve Field (CBE FRCP FFPH FRCGP) 

Chief Inspector of General Practice

We spoke with seven patients at the surgery. We spoke with the practice manager, two receptionists, an administrator and two General Practitioners (GP’s) and a nurse. We observed the medical centre in operation and looked at policies and records to help us understand how the practice was run.

We found that patients were involved in their care and the running of the surgery. A patient said, “I come here because of the way they treat you. I feel listened to”. The practice runs a patient participation group (PPG). A patient and member of the PPG told us “I feel that hopefully things are really moving on now with the PPG. We have further meetings booked”.

We saw that patients’ records supported safe and effective clinical care. There were systems for managing patients’ medicines safely and for ensuring investigation results were followed up. Patients expressed confidence in their care with one commenting “I’ve just moved to the area. I called today and got an appointment. The doctors are really easy to talk to”.

We found that patients were seen and treated in a clean and hygienic environment. We also found that appropriate checks were carried before people started work to ensure they were of good character.

There were arrangements in place to assess and monitor the quality of service provided. We found changes were made in light of complaints and critical incidents.