Letter from the Chief Inspector of General Practice

We carried out an announced comprehensive inspection at Horfield Health Centre on 4 May 2016. Overall the practice is rated as good.

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

• There was an open and transparent approach to safety and an effective system in place for reporting and recording significant events.
• Risks to patients were assessed and well managed.
• Staff assessed patients’ needs and delivered care in line with current evidence based guidance. Staff had been trained to provide them with the skills, knowledge and experience to deliver effective care and treatment.
• Patients said they were treated with compassion, dignity and respect and they were involved in their care and decisions about their treatment.

• The practice had trained both male and female reception staff and healthcare assistants to act as chaperones, supplementing the male and female clinical practice nursing team.

• Information about services and how to complain was available and easy to understand. Improvements were made to the quality of care as a result of complaints and concerns.

• Patients said they found it easy to make an appointment with a named GP and 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.

• The provider was aware of and complied with the requirements of the duty of candour.

We saw several areas of outstanding practice:

• The practice had jointly employed, with three other practices, a Care Coordinator from April 2015. The Care Coordinator contacted all patients post hospital discharge, not just those aged over 65 years, to see if they needed help to manage at home. For example, support such as instigating contact for changing of dressings, catheters or medicines.

• The practice led on providing a Community Resources Lead across the area with sourcing information about support and local groups for patients and both supporting and directing.

• The practice had a very long history of providing community support to patients, not just carers. A volunteer driving service enabled patients to attend the practice for appointments and treatment and a befriending service enabled volunteers to visit housebound patients once a week.

• There was a holistic approach to patients with multiple long term conditions who had their reviews of care carried out at the same time reducing the number of appointments patients were required to attend for their ongoing care.

• The GPs carried out one ante-natal check, and also saw their expectant mothers in the third trimester, to discuss post-natal contraception.

• The percentage of respondents to the GP patient survey who described the overall experience of their GP surgery as fairly good or very good was 95% compared to the clinical commissioning group average of 86% and national average of 85%.

The areas where the provider should make improvement are:

• The practice should ensure the new audit check, policies and procedures for the security of prescription paper is sustained.

Professor Steve Field (CBE FRCP FFPH FRCGP) 

Chief Inspector of General Practice

We reviewed the information available to us about Horfield Health Centre on 29 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.