Letter from the Chief Inspector of General Practice

We carried out an announced comprehensive inspection at Stamford House Medical Centre on 1 July 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 to report incidents and near misses. Information about safety was recorded, monitored, appropriately reviewed and addressed.
• Risks to patients were assessed and well managed, including those relating to recruitment checks.

• 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 needs had been identified and planned.
• The practice used innovative and proactive methods to improve patient outcomes, working with other local providers to share best practice. For example the impact of the work carried out by the over 75’s Champion and the success and roll out of patients access to medical records online.

• Data showed patient outcomes were in line with or above those locally and nationally.
• Feedback from patients about their care was consistently and strongly positive.

• Patients said they were treated with compassion, dignity and respect and they were involved in their care and decisions about their treatment.

• The practice implemented suggestions for improvements and made changes to the way it delivered services as a result of feedback from patients.

• Information about services and how to complain was available and easy to understand.

• Patients said they found it easy to make an appointment 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 management. The practice proactively sought feedback from staff and patients, which it acted on.

We saw areas of outstanding practice, including:

The practice employed an over 75’s Champion whose role was to contact all patients over 75 years to meet where appropriate in the patients home to assess needs and provide advice and support to patients and carers, including referrals to social care and community voluntary organisations. Evidence of the impact of this work included adaptations within patients homes to reduce the risk of falls and referrals to local voluntary organisations to reduce isolation both of which helps the practice reduce unplanned hospital admissions.

The practice had introduced full patient access to their medical records. An initial roll-out with the PPG was undertaken to identify problems and errors before inviting 1% of patients to access their records. Patients were provided with one to one consultations with a GP specialisng in patient access to understand the records and navigate the system. Initial feedback from those patients using the system were positive with examples of patients accessing results prior to consultations and feeling more empowered. The practice is continuing to promote patient access and recruit more patients.

The Health care assistant (HCA) ran a weekly walking group for staff and patients. Outcomes showed both improved physical health but also emotional well-being. The HCA was looking to do two walks per week as the uptake increased.

Professor Steve Field (CBE FRCP FFPH FRCGP) 

Chief Inspector of General Practice