Letter from the Chief Inspector of General Practice

We carried out an announced comprehensive inspection at Sharnbrook Surgery on 26 January 2016. Overall the practice is rated as good.

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

• The practice had a clear vision and had recognised the needs of patients in the community it served.
• The partners had worked hard to install an open and transparent approach to safety and a system was in place for reporting and recording significant events.
• Risks to patients were identified, assessed and appropriately managed. This included appropriate recruitment checks, clinical reviews and medicines management.
• We saw that the staff assessed patients’ needs and delivered care in line with current evidence based guidance. Staff had been trained to provide them with the skills, knowledge and experience to deliver effective care and treatment.
• Feedback from patients was consistently positive. Patients we spoke with told us they were treated with compassion, dignity and respect and they were involved in their care and decisions about their treatment.
• Results from the GP Patient Survey 2016 showed 93% patients would recommend the practice to someone new to the area.
• Information about services and how to complain was available in the waiting area and published on the practice website. Where appropriate improvements were made to the quality of care as a result of complaints and concerns. Outcomes were shared and learning opportunities identified as appropriate.
• Appointments were readily available. Urgent appointments were available the same day, although not always with the patients named or usual GP. 91% of patients described their experience of making an appointment as good.
• The practice had good facilities and was well equipped to treat patients and meet their needs.
• The practice offered a full range of primary medical services and was able to provide pharmaceutical services to those patients on the practice list who lived more than one mile (1.6km) from their nearest pharmacy premises.
• There was a clear leadership structure and we noted there was good level of moral in the practice, staff said they felt supported by management.
• The practice proactively sought feedback from staff and patients, which it acted on.
• The provider was aware of and complied with the requirements of the duty of candour.

The areas where the provider should make improvement are:

• To introduce systems to monitor the allocation and use of prescription pads.

• To ensure dispensary errors are routinely recorded, reviewed and investigated to avoid reoccurrence.

• Continue to identify and support carers registered at the practice

Professor Steve Field (CBE FRCP FFPH FRCGP) 

Chief Inspector of General Practice

During our inspection on 15 August 2013, we found Sharnbrook Surgery was welcoming with friendly staff. The surgery provided a separate dispensary area, as well as a number of consulting and treatment rooms, all based on the ground floor.

Information was clearly displayed throughout the surgery for people using the service, including health promotion, information about the practice, services available, as well as how to raise any concerns if someone was not happy with the service provided.

We spoke with six people using the service, who all said they were happy with the service provided to them. One person said, “The GPs are wonderful here.” Another person said, “I’ve been coming here for years, and wouldn’t change a thing.” We also spoke with staff in different roles who said they enjoyed working in the practice and felt supported by the provider. Most staff had also been working in the surgery for a number of years.

We looked at the care records for people and saw that care and treatment was planned to meet people’s needs.

We saw effective systems in place for managing medicines, and we also reviewed the quality monitoring systems used within the service. We saw these to be effective, with evidence of learning from areas identified through feedback from patients, audits and monitoring.