Letter from the Chief Inspector of General Practice

The Deepings Practice offers a range of primary medical services from it’s surgery at Godsey Lane, Market Deeping, Lincolnshire and a branch surgery at Glinton, Cambridgeshire.

We carried out an announced inspection on 2 December 2014 as part of our new comprehensive inspection programme of the main surgery at Market Deeping.

During the inspection we spoke with patients that used the practice and met with members of the patient participation (PPG). A PPG is a group of patients who have volunteered to represent patients' views and concerns and are seen as an effective way for patients and GP surgeries to work together to improve services and to promote health and improved quality of care. We also reviewed comments cards that had been provided by CQC on which patients could record their views.

The overall rating for this practice is good. We found the practice to be good in the safe, effective, caring, responsive and well led domains. We found the practice was good in the care they provided to the population groups of older people, people with long term conditions, families, children and young people, working age people, people experiencing poor mental health and people in vulnerable circumstances.

Our key findings were as follows:

• The practice had robust arrangements in place to manage emergencies. Staff had received relevant training and the practice had a designated emergency room which had all the equipment required by staff in the event of an emergency. Emergency medicines were available in this room and all staff knew of their location.

• The practice had achieved and implemented the gold standards framework for end of life care. It had a palliative care register and had regular meetings to discuss the care and support needs of patients and their families. GPs provided personalised cancer care by means of having their own patient list.

• Patients we spoke with and comments we reviewed reflected that they received an excellent service and praised staff, describing them as friendly, having time to listen and being caring. They said staff treated them with dignity and respect.

• The practice was responsive and had implemented services which addressed the needs of not only their own patients but the wider community. They had made changes as a result of comments and feedback from patients.

• There was clear leadership with all staff being aware of their role and responsibilities. There was a strong team ethos and staff felt well supported and valued.

We saw areas of outstanding practice including:

• The Deepings Practice had responded to the needs of the wider community and provided a community based ultrasound scanning service. This meant patients of any practice could be referred to the local facility which could be more convenient than travelling to hospital and often shorten the waiting time.

• The three GP trainers have been involved in the design and implementation of a regional urgent care skills training programme for registrars. The practice now hosts simulation based clinical skills workshops.

However, there were also areas of practice where the provider needs to make improvements.

The provider should :

• Ensure that minutes of all meetings are more comprehensive and included actions and required follow up where relevant.

• Ensure policies are reviewed and updated.

• Ensure that the MHRA/drug alert policy includes further guidance for staff on what to do once they have been sent an alert to investigate.

Professor Steve Field (CBE FRCP FFPH FRCGP) 

Chief Inspector of General Practice