Letter from the Chief Inspector of General Practice

We carried out an announced comprehensive inspection at Winscombe and Banwell Family Practice on 22 November 2016. The practice is registered as two locations, Winscombe Surgery and Banwell Surgery; patients could book an appointment at either location. All data relating to the performance of the practice has been aggregated and relates to both locations.

Overall the practice is rated as good.

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

• 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. 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 urgent appointments were available the same day. The practice had reviewed their clinical team to improve accessibility to a clinician. All clinical members of the team carried out some of the home visits and undertook patient medication reviews. Feedback from the patient participation group (PPG) members was positive and they told us on the day of the inspection that there was continuity of care and they were able to get appointments when they needed them.
• 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. For example, they provided a weekly onsite clinic at an assisted living site and also arranged for a weekly community minibus service from there to the practice so patients could access other practice based services.
• The practice had good facilities and was well equipped to treat patients and meet their needs.
• The practice used innovative and proactive methods to improve patient outcomes, working with other local providers to share best practice. For example, they were involved in several pilot schemes to improve patient access to services such as the onsite mental health specialist nurse.
• The practice had strong and visible clinical and managerial leadership and governance arrangements. 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.

The areas where the provider should make improvement are:

• Ensure that regular fire safety drills are undertaken and involve all staff.

• The provider should ensure the electrical installation safety check is kept up to date.

Professor Steve Field (CBE FRCP FFPH FRCGP) 

Chief Inspector of General Practice