Letter from the Chief Inspector of General Practice

We carried out an announced comprehensive inspection at Drs Lambert and Ng on 22 December 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, with the exception of those relating to recruitment checks.
• 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.
• Patients said they found it easy to make an appointment. There were urgent appointments available the same day for GPs and Nurses. Routine appointments were available to book the following 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 the management team. The practice proactively sought feedback from staff and patients, including the Patient Participation Group (PPG).
• Information about services and how to complain was available and easy to understand.
• The practice worked closely with other organisations and with the local community in planning how services were provided to ensure that they met people’s needs. For example, the practice was involved in a pilot scheme with Public Health England to refer patients with diabetes risk factors into the ‘Just Beat it Programme’. The aim of this was to prevent the development of diabetes.

The area where the provider should make improvement is:

• Ensure recruitment arrangements include all necessary employment checks for all staff. Ensure that staff are inducted to the practice as per the policy.

Professor Steve Field (CBE FRCP FFPH FRCGP) 

Chief Inspector of General Practice

We reviewed the information available to us about Drs Lambert and Ng on 15 May 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.