Letter from the Chief Inspector of General Practice

We carried out an announced comprehensive inspection at North Street Medical Care on 17 March 2015. Overall the practice is rated as good.

Specifically, we found the practice to be good for providing well-led, effective, caring, safe and responsive services. It was also good for providing services for older people, families, children and young people, working age people (including those recently retired and students), people living in vulnerable circumstances, people experiencing poor mental health (including people with dementia) and for people with long term conditions.

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.
• Risks to patients were assessed and well managed, with the exception of those relating to recruitment checks.
• 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 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 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 also areas of practice where the provider needs to make improvements.

Importantly, the provider should:

• Undertake a risk assessment for legionella (a bacterium which can contaminate water systems in buildings).
• Review its systems so that learning from significant events is also shared with non clinical staff.
• Consider introducing equality diversity and human rights training for staff.
• Continue to work with its Patient Participation Group to monitor and improve telephone access as necessary.
• Introduce a systematic programme of clinical audit to drive improvements in patient outcomes.

Professor Steve Field CBE FRCP FFPH FRCGP

Chief Inspector of General Practice

We carried out an announced comprehensive inspection at North Street Medical Care on 28 January 2019 as part of our inspection programme.

We based our judgement of the quality of care at this service on a combination of:

• what we found when we inspected
• information from our ongoing monitoring of data about services and
• information from the provider, patients, the public and other organisations.

We have rated this practice as good overall and good for all population groups.

We found that:

• The practice provided care in a way that kept patients safe and protected them from avoidable harm.
• Patients received effective care and treatment that met their needs.
• Staff dealt with patients with kindness and respect and involved them in decisions about their care.
• The practice organised and delivered services to meet patients’ needs. Patients could access care and treatment in a timely way.
• The way the practice was led and managed promoted the delivery of high-quality, person-centre care.

Whilst we found no breaches of regulations, the provider should:

• Ensure premises risk assessment and the outstanding actions from the most recent fire risk assessment are completed.
• Review the processes for ensuring security of prescription forms.
• Continue to monitor and address patient concerns about telephone access and making appointments.

Details of our findings and the evidence supporting our ratings are set out in the evidence tables.

Professor Steve Field CBE FRCP FFPH FRCGP
Chief Inspector of General Practice