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

We carried out an announced comprehensive inspection at The Crescent Medical Centre on 24 May 2018 as part of our inspection programme.

At this inspection we found:

• The practice had 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.
• The practice routinely reviewed the effectiveness and appropriateness of the care it provided. It ensured that care and treatment was delivered according to evidence- based guidelines.
• Clinical performance data was comparable to the national and local data.
• Patients we spoke with told us staff had treated them with compassion, kindness, dignity and respect.
• Patients found the appointment system easy to use and reported that they were able to access care when they needed it.
• The practice has achieved the silver level investors in carers standard (awarded by county council, the NHS and Northamptonshire Carers) which recognised efforts made by GP practices in the identification of and support available to carers including the changed culture within the practice to further support carers.
• There was a strong focus on continuous learning and improvement at all levels of the organisation. The practice operated a buddy arrangement with a neighbouring practice and met to share better ways of working and to learn from each other.
• At the time of our inspection there were no access enabled toilet facilities. However planning permission had been obtained to make that provision as well as better access to the practice.

We saw one area of outstanding practice:

• The practice focused on the needs of patients. The appointment system was responsive and patients told us that it was easy to get through on the telephone to get an appointment and that the receptionists were very helpful. During our inspection we saw an example of the reception staff helping a patient with a clinical issue in a focused way. Results from the July 2017 annual national GP patient survey showed a high level of patient satisfaction on access and the lead GP told us that the reception team had been ranked number one in the local area. The combined efforts of the reception and clinical team ensured timely access to appointments or appropriate referrals.

The areas where the provider should make improvements are:

• Complete the implementation of the Accessible Information Standard (a requirement to make sure that patients and their carers can access and understand the information that they are given).
• Ensure the proposals to provide access enabled toilet facilities and better access to the practice are implemented as planned.

Professor Steve Field CBE FRCP FFPH FRCGP

Chief Inspector of General Practice