Letter from the Chief Inspector of General Practice
The Orchard Surgery was previously inspected on 22 January 2015 and was rated as good overall and for safe, effective, caring, responsive and well-led services.
At this inspection on 20 March 2018 the practice is rated as good overall.
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 recently retired and students – Good
People whose circumstances may make them vulnerable – Good
People experiencing poor mental health (including people with dementia) – Good
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 routinely reviewed the effectiveness and appropriateness of the care it provided. It ensured that care and treatment was delivered according to evidence- based guidelines.
- Staff involved and treated patients with compassion, kindness, dignity and respect.
- Due to a GP partner vacancy and maternity leave the practice had had to limit the number of pre-bookable appointments. However, on the day appointments, home visits and phone consultation services were available. Urgent appointments for those with enhanced needs were also provided the same day and patients were able to pre-book appointments on line. We saw that the practice regularly reviewed its appointment system to ensure there was sufficient capacity to meet patient needs.
- There was an active patient participation group in place who told us that they had seen improvements within the practice.
- There was a strong focus on continuous learning and improvement at all levels of the organisation. The practice worked closely with other services in order to provide and improve care for their patient populations.
- Staff were positive about working in the practice and were involved in planning and decision making.
- Patient survey results were positive and higher than average in a number of areas.
Professor Steve Field (CBE FRCP FFPH FRCGP)
Chief Inspector of General Practice