Letter from the Chief Inspector of General Practice

We carried out an announced comprehensive inspection at The Charing Medical Partnership on 10 February 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. All opportunities for learning from internal and external incidents were maximised.
• Risks to patients were assessed and well managed.
• Staff assessed patients’ needs and delivered care in line with current evidence based guidance. Staff had the skills, knowledge and experience to deliver effective care and treatment.
• The practice used innovative and proactive methods to improve patient outcomes, working with other local providers and the surrounding community to share and deliver best practice. There was a wide range of services, clinical and non-clinical that recognised that a patient’s emotional and social needs were as important as their physical needs.
• Patients said they were treated with compassion, dignity and respect and they were involved in their care and decisions about their treatment.
• Information about services and how to complain was available and easy to understand.
• In response to patient feedback the practice had implemented a new GP led triaging system to ensure patients, urgent and non-urgent, were referred appropriately and efficiently to the most suitable health care professional.
• There were systems to promote continuity of care, with urgent appointments available on 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 which promoted teaching, training and development opportunities for staff and trainee GPs.
• 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 provider was aware of and complied with the requirements of the Duty of Candour.

We saw several areas of outstanding practice:

• The practice was innovative and utilised the skills of GPs with special interests to reduce referrals to secondary health care providers for orthopaedic conditions and minor surgery.
• The practice recognised that patient’s emotional and social needs were as important as their physical needs by supporting a range of activites including gardening, walking and support groups.

• The practice was active in the community and collaborated with the local primary school to provide social events aimed at improving health and wellbeing in the local healthcare economy. A senior GP had visited the local primary school to talk about healthy living.

Professor Steve Field CBE FRCP FFPH FRCGPChief Inspector of General Practice