Letter from the Chief Inspector of General Practice

We carried out an announced comprehensive inspection at Evenwood Medical Practice on 30 November 2016. 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 report incidents and near misses. All opportunities for learning from internal and external incidents were maximised.
• The practice used innovative and proactive methods to improve patient outcomes, working with other local providers to share best practice. For example, all test results were actioned daily before 10.30am. This was done from Bishopgate, a practice owned and ran by the Evenwood partners, freeing time for GPs at Evenwood to offer more consultation time to patients.
• Feedback from patients about their care was consistently positive.
• The practice worked closely with other organisations and with the local community in planning how services were provided to ensure that they meet patients’ needs, for example, liaising with key educational staff to improve school attendance and provide psychosocial support.
• The practice had good facilities and was well equipped to treat patients and meet their needs.
• The practice actively reviewed complaints and how they are managed and responded to, and made improvements as a result.
• The practice had strong and visible clinical and managerial leadership and governance arrangements.
• 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 areas of outstanding practice:

• There was a strong visible, person-centred culture. Relationships between people who use the service, those close to them and staff were strong, caring and supportive. For example, some patients with literacy difficulties regularly asked reception staff to assist them in reading their correspondence.
• Two dedicated chronic disease nurses were employed.
• The standard of diabetes care was significantly higher than local and national averages. For example, The percentage of patients with diabetes, on the register, in whom the last IFCC-HbA1c result was 64 mmol/mol or less, in the preceding 12 months, was 91% compared to the local CCG and national averages of 78%.
• Both nurses were able to prescribe and initiate insulin therapy.
• A one stop shop for older people was provided so there was no need for repeat journeys, for example, if blood tests were required they would be done immediately before leaving the practice.
• The practice liaised closely with a local children’s home and a local school to ensure the best outcomes for younger patients.

The areas where the provider should make improvement are:

• Ensure that the treatment room refrigerator thermometer is calibrated monthly or that a second thermometer is used to cross check the accuracy of the temperature, as per guidance.
• Ensure that temperatures in the treatment room fridge are recorded daily.

Professor Steve Field (CBE FRCP FFPH FRCGP) 

Chief Inspector of General Practice