Letter from the Chief Inspector of General Practice
We inspected this service on 4 November 2014 as part of our new comprehensive inspection programme.
The overall rating for this service is good. We found the practice to be good in the safe, effective, caring, responsive and well-led domains. We found the practice provided good care to older people, people with long term conditions, families, children and young people, the working age population and those recently retired, people in vulnerable circumstances and people experiencing poor mental health.
Our key findings were as follows:
- Patients were kept safe because there were arrangements in place for staff to report and learn from key safety risks. The practice had a system in place for reporting, recording and monitoring significant events over time.
- There were systems in place to keep patients safe from the risk and spread of infection.
- Evidence we reviewed demonstrated that patients were satisfied with how they were treated and that this was with compassion, dignity and respect. It also demonstrated that the GPs were good at listening to patients and gave them enough time.
- The practice had an open culture that was effective and encouraged staff to share their views through staff meetings and significant event meetings.
We saw an area of outstanding practice including:
- The practice provided an Xpert Diabetes Programme (XDP). The aim of this programme was to provide patients with the knowledge, skills and confidence necessary to self-manage their diabetes. This programme was supported by the GP partners as they placed a high value on patient education and self-management of long term conditions. The national database figures for 2014 showed improved outcomes for patients such as weight loss, reduction in HbA1c (blood sugar levels) and reduced cholesterol. We saw that very positive comments had been received from patients who had attended one of these courses.
However, there were also areas of practice where the provider needs to make improvements.
In addition the provider should:
- Carry out a Legionella risk assessment in line with guidance from Health and Safety Executive to assess any potential risk at the practice.
Professor Steve Field (CBE FRCP FFPH FRCGP)
Chief Inspector of General Practice