Letter from the Chief Inspector of General Practice

We carried out an announced comprehensive inspection of Werrington Health Centre on 4 November 2015. The practice provides primary medical services to approximately 13,750 patients who live in the surrounding area. Overall the practice is rated as good.

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

• Staff understood and fulfilled their responsibilities to raise concerns and report and follow through incidents and near misses. Opportunities for learning from incidents were shared with staff during meetings and action taken to prevent similar recurrences but these were not recorded. Staff had the knowledge and skills to enable them to take appropriate action if they had concerns about patient’s safety.
• Practice staff utilised methods to improve patient outcomes by working with other local providers to share best practice. Clinical staff used the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) guidelines when assessing patients and for their care needs.
• 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 services available to them. Patients we spoke with told us they received good standards of care.
• Practice staff worked closely with other organisations and external professionals in planning how services were provided to ensure that they meet people’s needs. People with complex needs had care plans and risk assessments in place that were regularly reviewed.
• Practice staff relied on the NHS patient surveys to identify where improvements could be made. They did not have a Patient Participation Group (PPG) but were encouraging patients to join. (PPG’s work with practice staff in an effective way that may lead to improved services).
• Senior staff had a clear vision which had quality, safety and patient care as its priority. Plans for the future were in place to further extend the hours when patients could access the service at weekends. There was a clear leadership structure and staff felt supported by management. It was evident that there was a strongly motivated staff team.

We saw an area of outstanding practice:

• The dedicated carer’s notice board provided information about support groups, guidance on what constitutes a carer and a request to inform staff if they were a carer. Last year practice staff established the Cambridgeshire and Peterborough Carers Surgery. Weekly coffee, lunch clubs and drop-in sessions were commenced at the practice premises. Regular presentations were given to provide carers with support and guidance. In January 2015 the practice was awarded a Carers Surgery of the Month certificate. The practice manager told us they were organising the 2016 meetings and planned to increase the advertising to promote attendances. We were told that so far, the Carers Surgery had facilitated networking between carers as well as providing guidance and support for them.

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

In addition the provider should:

• Consider ways to engage with patients in order to develop a Patient Participation Group (PPG).
• Produce minutes of practice meetings to confirm that the outcomes and actions from significant events and complaints are shared with all staff and lessons learnt are monitored.

Professor Steve Field (CBE FRCP FFPH FRCGP) 

Chief Inspector of General Practice