Letter from the Chief Inspector of General Practice

This practice is rated as Good overall. (This practice was previously registered to an individual GP whose last inspection in June 2016 was rated Good. The GP remains as one of the partners registered to the new partnership)

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 retired and students – Good

People whose circumstances may make them vulnerable – Good

People experiencing poor mental health (including people with dementia) - Good

We carried out an announced comprehensive inspection at Wexham Road Surgery on 14 December 2017. The inspection was carried out because the practice became a newly registered partnership with the Care Quality Commission in September 2016. It was previously registered as an individual GP working with employed salaried GPs.

At this inspection we found:

• The practice had clear systems to manage risk so that safety incidents were less likely to happen. When incidents did happen, the practice learned from them and improved their processes.
• The practice reviewed the effectiveness and appropriateness of the care it provided.
• GPs involved and treated patients with compassion, kindness, dignity and respect and this was reflected in the national GP patient survey results.
• Patients found it easy to use the appointment system and reported prompt access to the practice via the telephone system. This was shown in the results from national GP patient survey.
• The practice was active in improving and developing care pathways for patients with complex needs. These were shared with other practices in the locality.
• There was an audit programme which identified quality improvement.
• There was a strong focus on supporting patients identified as vulnerable. For example all patients diagnosed with a learning disability had received a health check in the last year.
• The practice recognised the culturally and ethnically diverse nature of the registered population and adapted services accordingly.

We saw one area of outstanding practice:

• The practice achieved 100% for all immunisations for children aged one to five.The follow up system in place included GPs calling parents and guardians to inform them of the benefits of immunisations.

The areas where the provider should make improvements are:

• Consider ways to improve identification of patients with a caring responsibility.
• Identify means of improving take up of cancer screening for bowel and breast cancer screening.

Professor Steve Field (CBE FRCP FFPH FRCGP) 

Chief Inspector of General Practice