Letter from the Chief Inspector of General Practice

We carried out an announced comprehensive inspection at Putnoe Medical Centre Partnership on 18 October 2016. 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 report incidents and near misses. Opportunities for learning from internal and external incidents were maximised.
• The practice used innovative and proactive methods to improve patient outcomes, working with other local providers to share best practice.
• The practice had been involved in developing clinical templates for patient care which had been shared across the CCG.
• Feedback from patients about their care was generally positive, with 90% of patients stating they had confidence and trust in the last GP they saw.
• Patients said they were treated with compassion, dignity and respect and they were involved in their care and decisions about their treatment.
• The practice worked closely with other organisations and with the local community in planning how services were provided to ensure that they meet patients’ needs.
• The practice implemented suggestions for improvements and made changes to the way it delivered services as a consequence of feedback from patients and from the patient participation group.
• The practice had good facilities and was well equipped to treat patients and meet their needs.
• Patients said they found it easy to make an appointment with a named GP and there was continuity of care, with urgent appointments available the same day.
• The practice actively reviewed complaints and how they are managed and responded to, and made improvements to services as a result.
• The practice had a clear vision which had the safe delivery of high quality services to patients as its top priority. The strategy to deliver this vision had been produced with stakeholders and was regularly reviewed and discussed with staff.
• The provider was aware of and complied with the requirements of the duty of candour.
• The practice had strong and visible clinical and managerial leadership and governance arrangements.

There were areas of practice where the provider should make improvements:

• The system for recording medical alerts should ensure all actions are recorded centrally.
• A complete log of drugs stored on the emergency trolley should be maintained and monitored.
• Staff should be advised when the practice amends the business continuity plan.
• Continue to encourage patients to attend cancer screening programmes.

• The prescription management policy should include a process to deal with uncollected prescriptions and safe storage of prescription stationery.
• The practice should continue efforts to identify and engage with those patients who are carers.

Professor Steve Field (CBE FRCP FFPH FRCGP) 

Chief Inspector of General Practice