Letter from the Chief Inspector of General Practice

This practice is rated as Good overall. (The practice was rated as good at our previous inspection on the 6 May 2015)

The key questions are rated as:

Are services safe? – Good

Are services effective? – Good

Are services caring? – Good

Are services responsive? – Good

Are services well-led? - Good

As part of our inspection process, we also look at the quality of care for specific population groups. The population groups are rated as:

Older People – Good

People with long-term conditions – Good

Families, children and young people – Good

Working age people (including those recently retired and students – Good

People whose circumstances may make them vulnerable – Good

People experiencing poor mental health (including people with dementia) - Good

We carried out an announced comprehensive inspection at Newbridge Surgery on 10 January 2018. We carried out this inspection as part of our inspection programme.

At this inspection we found:

• The practice had systems to manage risk so that safety incidents were less likely to happen. When incidents did happen, the practice learned from them and improved their processes.
• Staff understood and fulfilled their responsibilities to raise concerns, and to report incidents and near misses.
• Patients’ needs were assessed and care was planned and delivered following best practice guidance. The practice introduced innovative approaches to improve care and access to services and shared these locally with other practices. These approaches were particularly related to the needs of older patients, young people and students.
• Patients said they were treated with compassion, dignity and respect and they were involved in their care and decisions about their treatment. Information was provided to help patients understand the care available to them.
• Patients found the appointment system easy to use and reported that they were able to access care when they needed it.
• The practice worked proactively with the voluntary sector, community services and the patient participation group to support meeting the holistic needs of their patients.
• There was a clear leadership structure and staff felt supported by management.
• There was a strong focus on continuous learning and improvement at all levels of the organisation.

The areas where the provider should make improvements are:

• Consider pro-actively identifying carers and establishing what support they are provided with.

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 Newbridge Surgery on 6 May 2015. Overall the practice is rated as good.

Specifically, we found the practice to be good for providing, safe, effective, caring, responsive and well-led services. It was found to be good for providing services for older people; people with long-term conditions; families, children and young people; working age people; people whose circumstances may make them vulnerable and people experiencing poor mental health.

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.
• Most risks to patients were assessed and well managed. However, the risk of not having oxygen in the practice for use during a medical emergency had not been risk assessed.
• 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.
• Patients said they were treated with dignity and respect and they were involved in their care and decisions about their treatment.
• 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. The practice proactively sought feedback from staff and patients, which it acted on.

However there were areas of practice where the provider needs to make improvements.

Importantly the provider should:

• Formally assess the risk of not having oxygen in the practice for use during a medical emergency. This should include how patients will receive appropriate care and treatment in acute asthma attacks and other causes of hypoxia (insufficient oxygen in the blood and tissues).

Professor Steve Field (CBE FRCP FFPH FRCGP) 

Chief Inspector of General Practice