Letter from the Chief Inspector of General Practice

We carried out an announced focused inspection of the Sandhurst Group Practice, 72 Yorktown Road, Sandhurst, Berkshire,GU47 0BT on 2 July 2015. We carried out this inspection to check that the practice was meeting regulations. Our previous inspection in October 2014 had found breaches of regulations relating to safe and effective delivery of services. The ratings for the practice have been updated to reflect our findings.

We found the practice had made significant improvement since our last inspection on 2 October 2014 and they were meeting regulations that had previously been breached.

Specifically the practice was:

• Operating safe systems in relation to the recruitment of staff and there was evidence of a systematic approach to staff induction.
• Following processes to manage medicines safely and cleaning and infection control procedures had been improved to reduce risk of cross infection.
• Consistently applying current clinical guidelines and had undertaken a range of clinical audits to assess, monitor and improve patient care.

We have changed the rating for this practice to reflect these changes. The practice is now rated good for the provision of safe, effective, caring, responsive and well led services.

Professor Steve Field (CBE FRCP FFPH FRCGP) 

Chief Inspector of General Practice

Letter from the Chief Inspector of General Practice

We undertook a comprehensive inspection of The Sandhurst Group practice on 2 October 2014. During the inspection our team visited both the Owlsmoor and Sandhurst practice’s because both are registered with the CQC.

The practice is rated as requires improvement across both practice sites. We found evidence of weaknesses in the operation of safety systems and improvements must be made. Systems to manage medicines, appropriately vet staff before they commence work and systems to reduce the risk of cross infection were not operated consistently. The practice must take urgent action to improve these aspects of the service. Although many aspects of the practice were good, improvement in both safety and leadership are required.

Our key findings were as follows:

• the practice is involved in promoting health. It holds an award for smoking cessation.
• patient feedback overall was very positive. Particularly in the areas of being treated with kindness and compassion and being involved in decisions about care and treatment.
• a range of appointment options are available and additional appointments are made available at times of high demand.
• the practice works closely with a very active patient focus group and acts on patient feedback.

We saw an area of outstanding practice:

• arrangements were made with local commissioners to provide ear nose and throat, urology and ophthalmic clinics at the practice. Therefore, the need for patients to attend hospital outpatient clinics was reduced.

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

Importantly, the provider must:

• ensure medicines are stored securely and a system is in place to check expiry dates of stored medicines.
• act to improve standards of cleanliness and follow guidance to reduce the risk of cross infection.
• carry out a risk assessment to determine the requirement for reception and administration staff to undergo criminal records checks.
• carry out criminal records checks for practice nursing staff.
• ensure all pre-employment checks are completed and recorded.
• ensure there are recorded quality and monitoring  processes and procedures to identify, assess and manage risks to the safety and welfare of patients and others
• risk assess portable electrical appliances and undertake appropriate safety checks based on findings.

In addition the provider should:

• consider, with commissioners and local community groups, how a consistent and accessible translation service for patients whose first language is not English can be offered.

Professor Steve Field (CBE FRCP FFPH FRCGP) 

Chief Inspector of General Practice