Letter from the Chief Inspector of General Practice

We carried out an announced comprehensive inspection at Launceston Medical Centre on 26 May 2016. The overall rating for the practice was good. The full comprehensive report on the Month Year inspection can be found by selecting the ‘all reports’ link for Launceston Medical Centre on our website at www.cqc.org.uk .

This inspection was an announced focused inspection carried out on 15 February 2017 to confirm the practice had carried out their plan to meet the legal requirements in relation to the breaches in regulations we identified in our previous inspection on 26 May 2016. This report covers our findings in relation to those requirements and also additional improvements made since our last inspection.

Overall the practice is now rated as good in all domains.

Our key findings were as follows:

• There were effective recruitment procedures ensuring all necessary checks were made prior to a new member of staff commencing employment. This included obtaining

  satisfactory information for locum GPs.

• Training was managed effectively to promote patient safety and any risks that could affect the quality of care were reduced. In particular, Mental Capacity Act 2005 and safeguarding training was completed for all clinical staff and chaperone training had been provided for staff undertaking this role.

We looked at other areas highlighted by us for improvement and saw positive changes:

• There was a whole team approach to learning from significant events, which ensure all staff were involved in analysing such events to create a team based learning environment.

• Systems for establishing and monitoring what training staff were required to complete according to their roles and responsibilities had been reviewed and made clear.

• Systems for capturing any verbal complaints made by patients had been implemented, analysis of these were being used for shared learning to improve the patient experience at the practice.

• Information displayed about out of hours services had been updated making it clearer for patients with the contact numbers and times to call this service.

Professor Steve Field (CBE FRCP FFPH FRCGP) 

Chief Inspector of General Practice

Letter from the Chief Inspector of General Practice

We carried out an announced comprehensive inspection at Launceston Medical Centre on 26 May 2016. The overall rating for the practice was good. The full comprehensive report on the Month Year inspection can be found by selecting the ‘all reports’ link for Launceston Medical Centre on our website at www.cqc.org.uk .

This inspection was an announced focused inspection carried out on 15 February 2017 to confirm the practice had carried out their plan to meet the legal requirements in relation to the breaches in regulations we identified in our previous inspection on 26 May 2016. This report covers our findings in relation to those requirements and also additional improvements made since our last inspection.

Overall the practice is now rated as good in all domains.

Our key findings were as follows:

• There were effective recruitment procedures ensuring all necessary checks were made prior to a new member of staff commencing employment. This included obtaining

  satisfactory information for locum GPs.

• Training was managed effectively to promote patient safety and any risks that could affect the quality of care were reduced. In particular, Mental Capacity Act 2005 and safeguarding training was completed for all clinical staff and chaperone training had been provided for staff undertaking this role.

We looked at other areas highlighted by us for improvement and saw positive changes:

• There was a whole team approach to learning from significant events, which ensure all staff were involved in analysing such events to create a team based learning environment.

• Systems for establishing and monitoring what training staff were required to complete according to their roles and responsibilities had been reviewed and made clear.

• Systems for capturing any verbal complaints made by patients had been implemented, analysis of these were being used for shared learning to improve the patient experience at the practice.

• Information displayed about out of hours services had been updated making it clearer for patients with the contact numbers and times to call this service.

Professor Steve Field (CBE FRCP FFPH FRCGP) 

Chief Inspector of General Practice

We spoke with nine patients who were attending the practice on the day of our inspection. Their comments included "give them a big tick"; "Dr 'X' has been very good with my condition, [they] really have been very good and I could not wish for any better"; "my doctor is lovely. [The doctor] is always very kind and does a good job. We have a chat and decide what to do"; and, "I see the nurses an awful lot and they are so kind to me they really are. They always look pleased to see me".

People told us they felt involved in their care and treatment, and they were treated with respect and dignity by all the staff at the practice.

Staff knew the local safeguarding procedures. The policies for safeguarding children and vulnerable adults were reviewed regularly to ensure they were up to date. Staff regularly attended multi-agency safeguarding meetings. This meant people could be kept safe because information was shared and safeguarding plans were put in place.

There were appropriate arrangements in place which ensured that staff kept their knowledge and skills up to date. Staff told us about the supportive environment and confirmed that they had access to adequate training.

The practice was organised and well led. There were effective systems in place to monitor the quality of the service provided and patients were able to give feedback about the service.