Letter from the Chief Inspector of General Practice

We carried out an announced comprehensive inspection at Dr M E Scott & Partners on 6 October 2015. Overall the practice is rated as good.

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

• Risks to patients were assessed and well managed.
• Significant events were recorded, investigated and learned from. However, staff awareness of significant events was limited.
• Patients’ needs were assessed and care was planned and delivered following best practice guidance. Staff had received training appropriate to their roles.
• Patients said they were treated with compassion, 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 were able to get an appointment with a GP when they needed one, with urgent appointments available the same day.
• The practice was in the process of securing more suitable premises for the surgery to operate from. The practice management team had done as much as they could to modify the premises to suit patients’ needs.
• There was a clear leadership structure in place and staff felt supported by management. The practice sought feedback from staff and patients, which they acted on.
• Staff throughout the practice worked well together as a team.

We saw an area of outstanding practice:

• The practice had been involved in local CCG projects to improve the care of those patients with long term conditions. This included a chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) project which ensured the identification and management of patients with this condition. There was also a social prescribing project, Ways to Wellness, which provides support to patients with certain long-term health conditions. A Link Worker works with each person referred, on a one-to-one basis, in the areas where they most need support.

The areas where the provider should make improvements are:

• Consider training staff on the significant event process.
• Set up a system to ensure the relevant staff have seen and read patient safety alerts.
• Carry out disclosure and barring checks (DBS) for staff who carry out the role of chaperone.
• Set up a system to record clinical audit and ensure the audits have clear standards and evidence of audit cycle.
• Consider replacement of carpets within treatment rooms adjacent to consulting rooms with easy clean flooring.

Professor Steve Field (CBE FRCP FFPH FRCGP) 

Chief Inspector of General Practice

The patients we spoke with were satisfied the partners and staff listened to their views, showed them respect and involved them in decisions about their care and treatment. We saw steps had been taken to encourage patient feedback by inviting people to join a Patient Participation Group (PPG). We found patients’ privacy was respected and promoted. One patient told us they, “… wouldn’t change anything about the practice and would recommend it to other people.” Another patient told us the reception staff were very nice and treated them with dignity and respect. Appropriate systems and processes were in place to protect vulnerable patients against harm and prevent the spread of infection.