Letter from the Chief Inspector of General Practice

We carried out an announced comprehensive inspection at Manor Court Surgery on 9 August 2016. Overall the practice is rated as good.

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

• Patients’ needs were assessed and care delivered in line with current guidelines. Staff had the appropriate skills, knowledge and experience to deliver effective care and treatment.
• Urgent same day patient appointments were available when needed. Most patients we spoke with and those who completed comment cards before our inspection said they were always able to obtain same day appointments. Three patients said they had difficulty obtaining appointments, but there were appointments available on the day of our inspection.
• The practice team engaged with the local community and organised events and initiatives to reach patients who were potentially more vulnerable and harder to reach and also the local ethnic minority groups.
• Patients said they were treated with dignity, respect and compassion. Patients were involved decisions about their care and treatment.
• Information about how to complain was available and easy to understand. The practice received very few complaints from patients and reviewed complaints to ensure lessons were learned.
• Patients said GPs gave them enough time.
• Risks to patients were assessed and well managed.
• There were clearly defined processes and procedures to ensure patients were safe and an effective system in place for reporting and recording significant events. They were fully reviewed at every staff meeting.

We saw the following areas of outstanding practice:

• The practice team engaged with the local community and organised events and initiatives to reach patients who were potentially more vulnerable and harder to reach, this included local ethnic minority groups. The practice ran health promotion events and provided NHS health checks at the local mosque and also at events for the local Nepalese (Gurkha) community. Meetings with key community leaders were held to discuss health needs and developments. NHS health checks had also been carried out at the local food bank and the practice.

The area where the provider should make improvement is:

• Continue to closely monitor patient survey results and patient comments about availability of appointments to identify where further improvements could be made.

Professor Steve Field CBE FRCP FFPH FRCGP

Chief Inspector of General Practice