Letter from the Chief Inspector of General Practice

We carried out an announced comprehensive inspection at Vineyard Hill Surgery on 31 January 2017. Overall the practice is rated as good.

Our key findings across all the areas we inspected were as follows:

• There was an open and transparent approach to safety and an effective system in place for reporting and recording significant events.
• Risks to patients were assessed and well managed.

• Staff assessed patients’ needs and delivered care in line with current evidence based guidance. Staff had been trained to provide them with the skills, knowledge and experience to deliver effective care and treatment.
• We saw evidence that the practice used audit to make improvements to safety; however, practice policies were not always updated to reflect the changes made.
• The practice identified patients with caring responsibilities and information was available to direct these patients to support organisations; however, only nine carers had been identified, which represented less than 1% of the practice’s patient list.
• Patients said they were treated with compassion, dignity and respect and they were involved in their care and decisions about their treatment.
• Information about services and how to complain was available and easy to understand; however, the practice’s complaints leaflet did not contain accurate sign-posting information to enable patients to escalate their complaint if they were unhappy with the practice’s response. Improvements were made to the quality of care as a result of complaints and concerns.
• Patients said they found it easy to make an appointment with a named GP and there was continuity of care, with urgent appointments available the same day.
• The practice had good facilities and was well equipped to treat patients and meet their needs.
• There was a clear leadership structure and staff felt supported by management.
• The practice had recently set up a Patient Participation Group (PPG), and this was in the process of becoming established.
• The provider was aware of and complied with the requirements of the duty of candour.

The areas where the provider should make improvement are:

• They should ensure that all staff are aware of the identity of the practice safeguarding lead.
• They should ensure that they provide contact details for the Parliamentary and Health Service Ombudsman in their complaints leaflet and in complaint response letters.
• They should ensure that changes to process are reflected in updated practice policies.
• They should continue to develop the PPG in order to ensure that they are able to gather feedback from patients about the service provided.
• They should continue to work on identifying patients with caring responsibilities in order to ensure that these patients can receive support.

Professor Steve Field CBE FRCP FFPH FRCGP 

Chief Inspector of General Practice