Archived: Yardley Wood Health Centre

Letter from the Chief Inspector of General Practice

We carried out an announced comprehensive inspection at Yardley Wood Health Centre on 10 October 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.
• There was a clear leadership structure, a strong commitment to teamwork and staff told us they felt valued, informed and involved in improving the service.
• 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 use the new GP triage system that had been implemented in July 2016. Patients told us this had made access to an appointment much better and they could always get an urgent appointment the same day. Pre- bookable appointments with a named GP were usually accessible within three weeks.
• The practice had good facilities and was well equipped to treat patients and meet their needs.
• The provider was aware of and complied with the requirements of the duty of candour.

The areas where the provider should make improvement are:

• The practice should continue to make improvements to the appointment system and access to the practice by telephone in order to improve patient satisfaction rates.

Professor Steve Field (CBE FRCP FFPH FRCGP) 

Chief Inspector of General Practice