This practice is rated as Good overall. (Previous rating September 2017 – Requires Improvement).
The key questions at this inspection are rated as:
Are services safe? – Good
Are services effective? – Good
Are services caring? – Good
Are services responsive? – Requires improvement
Are services well-led? - Good
We carried out an announced comprehensive inspection at Danbury Medical Centre on 30 October 2018 and followed up on breaches of regulations found during the previous inspection.
At this inspection we found:
- There was a clear leadership structure and staff felt supported by management. The practice ensured that communication across the practice sites was clear and defined.
- There was an open and transparent approach to safety and a system in place for reporting and recording significant events.
- There were 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. Incidents were routinely reviewed and analysed to ensure occurrences were not repeated.
- The practice audited and reviewed the effectiveness and appropriateness of the care it provided. Audits showed this was to ensure care and treatment was provided according to evidence-based guidelines.
- The Danbury location dispensed medicines to patients. The arrangements for managing medicines, including emergency medicines and vaccines kept patients safe.
- We reviewed recruitment procedures undertaken prior to employment and found staff files viewed were complete and accurate.
- Information about services and how to complain was available. Improvements were made to the quality of care from the systems in place to learn from the lessons gained from concerns and complaints. These were shared with staff and stakeholders.
- We observed the two locations we inspected to be tidy and generally clean.
- Patients we spoke with said they did not always find it easy to make an appointment with a named GP however, there was continuity of care, and urgent appointments were available the same day.
- Patient satisfaction in the national GP patient survey was low in several areas. The practice carried out their own survey using questions from the national survey to understand whether changes being made were having a positive effect.
- We were told staff treated patients with compassion, kindness, dignity and respect.
- There was a strong focus on continuous learning and improvement at all levels of the organisation.
The areas where the provider should make improvements are:
- Increase existing efforts to identify patients that are carers to ensure they are provided the support needed to maintain their health and caring role.
- Continue to monitor patients with diabetes and hypertension to ensure that appropriate reviews are undertaken and performance in this area is maintained.
- Continue to monitor and improve patient satisfaction as identified in the national GP patient survey published in August 2018.
Professor Steve Field CBE FRCP FFPH FRCGP Chief Inspector of General Practice
Please refer to the detailed report and the evidence tables for further information.