Letter from the Chief Inspector of General Practice

We visited The Cottons Medical Centre on the 24 October 2014 and carried out a comprehensive inspection.

The overall rating for this practice is good.

Our key findings were as follows:

• Patients reported being treated with kindness, dignity and respect and GPs and nurses spent time listening to and dealing with patients’ medical problems.
• There were systems in place to provide a safe, effective, caring and well run service.
• The practice had taken steps to engage with patients to address access issues and improve services.
• There was a good understanding of the needs of the practice population and services were offered to meet these.

There wasone area of outstanding practice:

• One GP had developed their own patient information leaflet to help patients attending the practice to understand their cholesterol levels and help them to reduce and control these.

However, there were some areas of practice where the practice could make improvements.

The practice should:

• Identify a programme of audit and a date to re-audit and complete the audit cycle to determine the effectiveness of any actions or changes made.
• Develop a risk log to evidence that a process is in place for identifying, discussing and mitigating risks.
• Ensure that any staff who are to act as a chaperone at any time receive the appropriate chaperone training.

Professor Steve Field CBE FRCP FFPH FRCGP

Chief Inspector of General Practice