Archived: Boutport Medical Centre

Letter from the Chief Inspector of General Practice

Boutport Medical Centre was inspected on Thursday 23 October 2014. This was a comprehensive inspection.

Boutport Medical Centre provides primary medical services to people living in the North Devon town of Barnstaple, and the surrounding areas. The practice provides services to a diverse population age group and is situated in the historic heart of the town.

Information from Public Health England shows this practice had more patients with long standing health conditions and more disability allowance claimants and carers than average for England and the population was found to have average levels of deprivation overall.

Patients who use the practice have access to community staff including district nurses, community psychiatric nurses, health visitors, physiotherapists, mental health staff, counsellors, chiropodist and midwives. The midwives were based in the practice.

Overall this service was rated as good, with some work that was outstanding and some elements that needed improvement.

Our key findings were as follows:

• Patients could book in advance and see their own named GP, which they liked. Half of all appointments were ‘book on the day’.
• Patients with complex problems said they had been shown understanding and kindness and the care, manner and treatment from GPs had been second to none and very reassuring. Patients specifically mentioned the compassion and humour of reception staff.
• The practice used the Quality and Outcomes Framework (QOF) to measure its performance. The QOF data for this practice showed it was performing in line with national standards and above average with respect to support provided to some vulnerable groups.
• The premises needed considerable maintenance, as the practice was housed in a grade two listed Georgian building. A manager was identified as responsible for risk assessment and had carried out a health and safety audit of the service. Not all safety issues had been fully dealt with.

We saw several areas of outstanding practice including:

• A GP from this practice had arranged and produced a successful bid on behalf of the 23 member practices in the North Devon GP provider group, for funding for a single computer system to be used across these practices to help them work together. The bid was under the Prime Minister’s Challenge Fund for innovative models of care.

However, there were also areas of practice where the provider needed to make improvements.

The provider should:

• Gather references as evidence of conduct in previous employment of GPs seeking to join the practice.

• The flooring in all clinical areas should be seamless and smooth, so it can be easily cleaned.

• There should be documented protocols in place for chronic disease management clinics that would ensure best practice was consistently followed.

Professor Steve Field (CBE FRCP FFPH FRCGP) 

Chief Inspector of General Practice