Letter from the Chief Inspector of General Practice

We carried out an announced comprehensive inspection at Drs Lavin, Findlay, Remedios and Thompson on 16 March 2016. Overall the practice is rated as good.

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

• Patients in Malvern had voted Drs Lavin, Findlay, Remedios and Thompson the best practice in town, according to an article in the 19 February 2016 edition of The Malvern Gazette.
• Patients said that the GPs and nurses were very caring and respectful and that they were always involved in decisions about their treatment options.
• The practice team was experienced to deal with a variety of health conditions.
• The practice had clear systems in place to ensure the safety of the practice and monitor the level of care and treatment delivered to patients.
• Risks to patients were assessed and well managed.
• The practice was one of five local practices to take part in a pilot scheme whereby a local GP was available to review any patient in a care home from 10am to 2pm during the weekend.
• Information about services and how to complain was available and easy to understand. The practice replied to complaints in a timely manner.
• Patients said they found it easy to make an appointment with a named GP and that 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.

We saw one area of outstanding practice:

• A practice nurse had set up a Swim Inspiration scheme, in order to encourage patients to get fit and lose weight. Weekly sessions were held for patients with conditions such as obesity, arthritis, Hypertension, Parkinson’s, Huntington’s and Learning Disability. Instructors regularly had between 20 and 30 patients attending.

Professor Steve Field (CBE FRCP FFPH FRCGP) 

Chief Inspector of General Practice

We reviewed the information available to us about Drs Lavin, Findlay, Remedios and Thompson on 13 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.