Letter from the Chief Inspector of General Practice

We carried out an announced comprehensive inspection at Shawbury Medical Practice on 2 February 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 which had quality and safety as its top priority. The strategy to deliver this vision had been produced with stakeholders and was regularly reviewed and discussed with staff.
• Staff understood and fulfilled their responsibilities to raise concerns and report incidents and near misses. All opportunities for learning from internal and external incidents were maximised.
• There was an open and transparent approach to safety and an effective system in place for reporting and recording significant events.
• Risks to patients were assessed and well managed.
• Patients said they were treated with compassion, dignity and respect and they were involved in their care and decisions about their treatment.
• Feedback from patients about their care was consistently positive.
• 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 the 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 practice worked closely with other organisations and with the local community in planning how services were provided to ensure that they met patients’ needs. For example, the provision of a dispensary service and an in house counselling service.
• The practice had good facilities and was well equipped to treat patients and meet their needs. Information about how to complain was available and easy to understand.

We saw an area of outstanding practice:

• The practice had ensured they reviewed their looked after children and child protection register with the Health Visitor and School Nurse at regular multi-disciplinary team meetings to ensure it was up to date. The involvement of the school nurse had improved the level of information and intelligence within the multi-disciplinary team.

There was an area of practice where the provider should make improvement:

• Consider improving the documentation of complaints to ensure that a final letter is forwarded to complainants that explains the next steps they may choose to take.

Professor Steve Field (CBE FRCP FFPH FRCGP) 

Chief Inspector of General Practice