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

At this inspection we found:

• The practice had systems and processes to minimise risks to patient safety. Staff understood and fulfilled their responsibilities to raise concerns and report incidents and near misses. Learning was shared with staff and outcomes had been actioned.
• There was a system for recording, actioning and tracking patient safety alerts. All alerts had been reviewed and action taken where appropriate. All alerts were reviewed in clinical meetings.
• All appropriate recruitment checks had been carried out on staff prior to being employed by the practice. This included medical indemnity checks carried out on locum GPs employed.
• Feedback from patients about their care was consistently positive and this was reflected in the National GP Patient Survey results published in July 2017.
• The practice had good facilities and was well equipped to treat patients and meet their needs. This included appropriate arrangements for equipment and medicine that may be required to respond to a medical emergency.
• Information about services and how to complain was available to patients. The practice made improvements to the quality of care as a result of learning from complaints and concerns.
• There was a practice development plan that documented both their long and short-term priorities. This included actions they had taken in response to patient feedback about the difficulty in accessing appointments, and the plans for continued improvements.
• The practice had visible clinical and managerial leadership with audit arrangements in place to monitor quality.

Professor Steve Field (CBE FRCP FFPH FRCGP) 

Chief Inspector of General Practice

Letter from the Chief Inspector of General Practice

We carried out a comprehensive inspection of The Marches Surgery on 27 October 2014. The practice also has a branch surgery at Bodenham which we did not inspect on this occasion. We found the Marches Surgery provided a good service to patients in all of the five key areas we looked at. This applied to patients across all age ranges and to patients with varied needs due to their health or social circumstances.

Our key findings were as follows:

• The practice had comprehensive systems for monitoring and maintaining the safety of the practice and the care and treatment they provide to their patients
• The practice was proactive in helping patients with long term conditions to manage their health and had arrangements in place to make sure their health was monitored regularly
• The practice was clean and hygienic and had robust arrangements for reducing the risks from healthcare associated infections
• Patients felt that they were treated with dignity and respect. They felt that their GP listened to them and treated them as individuals
• The practice had a well-established and well trained team and had expertise and experience in a wide range of health conditions

We saw several areas of outstanding practice including:

• The practice hosts a trained mental health worker and dementia nurse, both employed by 2gether Mental Health Trust, to work with patients.

Professor Steve Field (CBE FRCP FFPH FRCGP)

Chief Inspector of General Practice