Letter from the Chief Inspector of General Practice

We carried out an announced comprehensive inspection at Manor Primary Care on 17 August 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.
• Information about the services provided 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 identified the following two areas of outstanding practice:

• The practice had approached EMIS administrators to create a new alert for a “Looked After Child” and this had been implemented nationally. This alert enabled staff to support the families more effectively.

• The practice reported on work practices which they identified as “Above and Beyond” .For example a patient on low income told staff they could not afford to travel to the surgery for appointments and maintain his food intake. The community matron was involved and helped to improve the patient’s social and financial circumstances by referring to appropriate agencies. In another case a child had refused to take medicine for a chest infection and the ANP saw the family each day to encourage the child’s compliance . Another patient had been in urgent need of a prescription but could not collect it at the surgery due to mobility problems. A member of staff delivered it to a pharmacy near to the patients home where it could be collected by a neighbour.

The areas where the provider should make improvements :

• Record learning outcomes following the analysis of complaints and serious events at the practice.

Professor Steve Field (CBE FRCP FFPH FRCGP) 

Chief Inspector of General Practice