Letter from the Chief Inspector of General Practice

We carried out an announced comprehensive inspection at Norton Medical Centre on 23 September 2015. Overall the practice is rated as good.

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.
• The practice were proactive in improving prescribing within the practice.
• Risks to patients were assessed and well managed, the practice were proactive in managing health and safety.
• 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 and development needs had been identified and planned.
• Urgent appointments were available the same day but not necessarily with a GP of choice.
• Patients said they were treated with compassion, dignity and respect and they were involved in their care and decisions about treatment.
• The practice made good use of audits and had shared information with other practices to promote better patient outcomes.
• Information about services and how to complain was available and easy to understand.
• 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 the management team. The practice proactively sought feedback from staff and patients, which it acted on.

We saw one area of outstanding practice:

• The practice employed a pharmacist to improve the practice of the repeat prescribing process. The outcome showed that patient safety was improved and the annual prescribing costs reduced. This project has been shared with local practices and presented nationally.

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

Importantly the provider should make improvements.

• Ensure the positioning of hand gel in the children’s play area is safely out of the reach of children.

Professor Steve Field (CBE FRCP FFPH FRCGP) 

Chief Inspector of General Practice