Archived: Penalverne Surgery

Letter from the Chief Inspector of General Practice

We carried out an announced comprehensive inspection at the Penalverne Surgery on 26 September 2016. Overall the practice is rated as good.

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

• 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 there was continuity of care, with urgent appointments available the same day.
• The practice had good facilities and was well equipped to treat patients and meet their needs. The practice was clean, tidy and hygienic. We found arrangements were in place which ensured the cleanliness of the practice was maintained to a high standard.
• The patient participation group (PPG) were engaged and well represented across a diverse range of ages and professional backgrounds. The PPG suggestions for changes to the practice management team had been acted upon
• The practice also had a dispensary at their branch practice which dispensed medicines to about 500 patients. The practice had arranged a delivery service for some patients to have their dispensed medicines delivered to their homes
• 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.

We saw one area of outstanding practice:

The practice has created an innovative new role for a practice matron to provide further care to their high risk patients. Their role included carrying out health and medicine reviews for patients with long term conditions within their own homes. Updating care plans, including plans for end of life care and carry out home visits on a daily basis was part of their role. They were part of the multi-disciplinary team and could signpost patients to the right services. Since being in post the practice matron had reduced the number of home visits required by the GPs by 76% which equated to 17.5 hours more time in the practice for GPs.

The area where the provider should make improvement are:

• Review the processes for identifying carers in the practice to increase those being identified and to offer carers support and guidance about available services.

Professor Steve Field (CBE FRCP FFPH FRCGP) 

Chief Inspector of General Practice