Letter from the Chief Inspector of General Practice

This practice is rated as Good overall.

The key questions are rated as:

Are services safe? – Good

Are services effective? – Good

Are services caring? – Good

Are services responsive? – Good

Are services well-led? - Good

As part of our inspection process, we also look at the quality of care for specific population groups. The population groups are rated as:

Older People – Good

People with long-term conditions – Good

Families, children and young people – Good

Working age people (including those recently retired and students – Good

People whose circumstances may make them vulnerable – Good

People experiencing poor mental health (including people with dementia) - Good

We carried out an announced comprehensive inspection at Station St Surgery on 7 November 2017 as part of our inspection programme.

At this inspection we found:

• Urgent same day patient appointments were available when needed. All patients we spoke with and those who completed comment cards before our inspection said they were always able to obtain same day appointments and access care when needed.
• Patients’ needs were assessed and care delivered in line with current guidelines. Staff had the appropriate skills, knowledge and experience to deliver effective care and treatment.

• The practice had clear systems to manage risk so that safety incidents were less likely to happen. When incidents did happen, the practice learned from them and improved their processes.

• Results from the July 2017 annual national GP patient survey showed high levels of patient satisfaction with all aspects of the practice and patient care.

• Patients said GPs gave them enough time and treated them with dignity and respect.

• The practice took the needs of the local population into account. For example, as a higher than average number of patients aged over 75 were registered with the practice, a staff member had been trained as a dementia navigator to assist patients with dementia and their carers with accessing appropriate health care and linking them up with other organisations for appropriate advice and assistance.

Professor Steve Field CBE FRCP FFPH FRCGP

Chief Inspector of General Practice

Letter from the Chief Inspector of General Practice

We inspected this service on 24 February 2015 as part of our new comprehensive inspection programme.

The overall rating for this service is good. We found the practice to be rated as good in providing safe, effective, caring, responsive and well-led services. We found the practice provided good care to older people, people with long term conditions, families, children and young people, the working age population and those recently retired, people whose circumstances may make them vulnerable and people experiencing poor mental health.

Our key findings were as follows:

• Patients were kept safe because there were arrangements in place for staff to report and learn from incidents that occurred. The practice had a system for reporting, recording and monitoring significant events over time.

• There were systems in place to keep patients safe from the risk and spread of infection.

• Evidence we reviewed demonstrated that patients were satisfied with how they were treated and that this was with compassion, dignity and respect. It also demonstrated that the GPs were caring, good at listening to patients and gave them enough time.

• The practice had an open culture that was effective and encouraged staff to share their views through staff meetings and significant event meetings.

Professor Steve Field (CBE FRCP FFPH FRCGP) 

Chief Inspector of General Practice