Archived: Dr S Ahmed & Dr H Duffy

Letter from the Chief Inspector of General Practice

We carried out a comprehensive inspection on 12th November 2014. We spoke with patients, members of the Patient Participation Group (PPG), and staff including the management team.

The practice is rated as Good. A safe, caring, effective, responsive and well-led service is provided that meets the needs of the population it serves.

Our key findings were as follows:

• The service is safe.  All staff understand and fulfil their responsibilities to raise concerns and report incidents and near misses. All opportunities for learning from internal incidents are maximised to support improvement. 
• The service is effective. The practice is using proactive methods to improve patient outcomes and it links with other local providers to share best practice.
• The practice is caring. Patients told us they are treated with compassion, dignity and respect and they are involved in care and treatment decisions. Accessible information is provided to help patients understand the care available to them.
• The practice is responsive to patient’s needs. The practice implements suggestions for improvements and makes changes to the way it delivers services as a consequence of feedback directly from patients and from the Patient Participation Group (PPG). Patients told us they are fully dated with the planned merger of the practice and have been asked for their comments.
• The practice is well-led. They have a clear vision which has quality and safety as its top priority. A business plan is in place that includes detailed plans for the forthcoming merger with another practice. This plan is monitored and regularly reviewed by both practices, and discussed with all staff. Cross practice working is already in progress to ensure both patients and staff from both practices are familiar with each other. High standards are promoted and owned by all practice staff with evidence of team working across all roles.

We saw several areas of outstanding practice including:

• All the practice staff proactively followed up information received about vulnerable patients. .
• The approach of the practice in responding to and meeting the needs of different groups of people, including those in vulnerable circumstances or those with learning disabilities.
• The approach staff took to ensure patients were involved in the planning of their care and in decisions about their care / treatment using a variety of different methods appropriate to the person.
• The practice has close working relationships with the police and other protective agencies and was able to act quickly and address situations whilst maintaining the safety of the patient.
• The practice business plan for the future included a planned merger with another local GP practice; this was being handled in a sensitive, effective and open manner.

Professor Steve Field (CBE FRCP FFPH FRCGP) 

Chief Inspector of General Practice