Letter from the Chief Inspector of General Practice

We carried out an announced comprehensive inspection of Wallingbrook Health Group at Wallingbrook Health Centre at Chulmleigh on   23 March 2016. 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.
• 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. 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 proactively sought feedback from staff and patients, which it acted on.
• The provider was aware of and complied with the requirements of the duty of candour.

We saw areas of outstanding practice:

• The practice drove innovation and was proactive in influencing this at a national level by having pioneered the role of pharmacist embedded in a GP practice. The practice had had a pharmacist as a partner since 2004 and had been an exemplar of best practice. The practice pharmacist has campaigned nationally for over a decade to promote the role of practice pharmacist as an integral part of GP practice teams.

• Staff were involved with innovation design projects such as the type 2 diabetes care pathway, which was due to be piloted across GP practices in England in the next 12 months into 2017. This resource aims to improve consistency, understanding, self care and shared decision making for patients with type 2 diabetes over the course of their life.

• The practice was proactive in identifying carers at the point of registering with them and had identified 5.1% of the practice list as carers.

Professor Steve Field (CBE FRCP FFPH FRCGP) 

Chief Inspector of General Practice