Letter from the Chief Inspector of General Practice

We carried out an announced comprehensive inspection at Walton Medical Centre Practice

On 10 August 2016. Overall the practice is rated as good.

• Staff understood and fulfilled their responsibilities to raise concerns and report incidents and near misses. All opportunities for learning from internal and external incidents were maximised.We saw good evidence of improving the service by learning from adverse events and errors. Improvements were evident when patient complaints had been made.

• The practice used innovative and proactive methods to improve patient outcomes, working with other local providers to share best practice.

• Feedback from patients about their care was consistently positive.

• The practice worked closely with other organisations and with the local community in planning how services were provided to ensure that they meet patients’ needs.

• The practice had good facilities and was well equipped to treat patients and meet their needs.

• The practice actively reviewed complaints and how they were managed and responded to, and made improvements as a result.

• The practice had a clear vision which had quality and safety as its top priority. The strategy to deliver this vision had been produced with stakeholders and was regularly reviewed and discussed with staff.

• The practice had strong and visible clinical and managerial leadership and governance arrangements.

There were also areas of practice where the provider should make improvements. The provider should:

• A system should be in put place to ensure the practice nurse has the opportunity to receive appropriate clinical supervision and support.

• The practice should maintain proof of identify of staff by having a recent photograph on their staff file.

Professor Steve Field (CBE FRCP FFPH FRCGP) 

Chief Inspector of General Practice

We reviewed the information available to us about Walton Medical Centre on 4 May 2019. We did not find evidence of significant changes to the quality of service being provided since the last inspection. As a result, we decided not to inspect the surgery at this time. We will continue to monitor this information about this service throughout the year and may inspect the surgery when we see evidence of potential changes.