Letter from the Chief Inspector of General Practice

We carried out an announced comprehensive inspection at Goldington Avenue Surgery on 28 January 2015. Overall the practice is rated as good.

Specifically, we found the practice to be good for providing safe, well-led, effective, caring and responsive services. It was also good for providing services for each of the six population groups we looked at.

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.
• 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.
• All feedback from patients was positive saying they were treated with compassion, dignity and respect and they were involved in their care and decisions about their treatment.
• The practice scored highest in the local CCG area in the National Patient Survey and was ranked in the top 5% nationally.
• Information about services and how to complain was available and easy to understand.
• 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.
• End of Life care was very good with learning shared within the locality to influence care at other practices.

However there was an area of practice where the provider needs to make improvements.

The provider should:

• Complete an infection control audit for the entire premises and implement actions identified in previous audits.

Professor Steve Field CBE FRCP FFPH FRCGP 

Chief Inspector of General Practice

During our inspection on 13 August 2013, we found the service to be welcoming with friendly staff. The surgery was based over two floors with a waiting room and consultation rooms on both floors. A stair lift was available for anyone who had reduced mobility to enable access to the first floor.

Information was clearly displayed throughout the surgery for people using the service, including health promotion, information about the practice, services available, as well as how to raise any concerns if someone was not happy with the service provided. A touch screen facility enabled people to announce their arrival.

We spoke with five people using the service, who all said they were happy with the service provided to them. One person said, “The GP I see is lovely, and I’ve been coming here for years.” We also spoke with staff who said they enjoyed working in the practice and felt supported by the provider.

We looked at the care records for people and saw that care and treatment was planned to meet people’s needs.

We looked at the recruitment processes for staff working in the surgery and saw evidence of effective recruitment checks made before staff commenced employment.

We reviewed the quality monitoring systems used within the service and saw these to be effective, with evidence of learning from areas identified through feedback from patients, audits and monitoring.