Dr C D Lenton & Partners Also known as Ashfield Surgery

Letter from the Chief Inspector of General Practice

We carried out an announced comprehensive inspection at Dr AP Blight & Partners of Ashfield Surgery on 25 August 2016. Overall the practice is rated as Good.

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

• Staff understood and fulfilled their responsibilities to raise concerns and report incidents and near misses.
• The practice used innovative and proactive methods to improve patient outcomes, For example diabetes group session for newly diagnosed patients were held every two weeks.
• Feedback from patients about their care was consistently positive.
• Patients’ needs were assessed and care was planned and delivered following best practice guidance. The practice had clearly defined and embedded systems, processes and practices in place to keep people safe and safeguarded from abuse.
• Staff had been trained to provide them with the skills, knowledge and experience to deliver effective care and treatment.
• We saw that staff were friendly and helpful and treated patients with kindness and respect. Patients said they were treated with compassion, dignity and respect and they were involved in their care and decisions about their treatment.
• 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 worked closely with other organisations in planning how services were provided to ensure that they meet patients’ needs. For example the practice ran a Contraception and Advanced Sexual Health Service (CASH) for the local community.
• The practice had good facilities and was well equipped to treat patients and meet their needs.
• The practice actively reviewed complaints and how they were managed and responded to, and made improvements as a result.
• There was a clear leadership structure, but staff felt they were not supported enough by management and the GPs.
• The provider was aware of and complied with the requirements of the duty of candour.

• Staff spoken with demonstrated a commitment to providing a high quality service to patients.
• The practice operated a consultant led vasectomy clinic. This was a two part service; one of the GPs at the practice offered a weekly counselling service for patients who were considering having this procedure.

• The practice held a twice weekly Contraceptive and Sexual Health Clinic (CASH) for the local community which was run by two of the practice GPs who had specialised in this area.

We saw an area of outstanding practice including:

A diabetic group session was held every two weeks for newly diagnosed patients by one of the practice nurses who had qualified in diabetic care and with the support of one of the GPs. The group supported a maximum of ten patients at each session and the practice had seen positive outcomes from the sessions with an improvement in the diabetic blood monitoring (HbA1c test) with 84% of patients having a lower result of 7 or less. The practice attributed this to the positive effect of having an expert patient group, with an innovative approach to the management of diabetes and lifestyle changes.

However there were areas of practice where the provider should make improvements:

• Review infection control processes to ensure infection prevention continues to be monitored effectively and cleaning schedules are monitored and completed to reduce the risk of infection.
• Continue to encourage patients to attend health checks including patients with learning disabilities.
• Review current procedures and management support for non clinical staff and implement a system of appraisals for all staff.

Professor Steve Field (CBE FRCP FFPH FRCGP) 

Chief Inspector of General Practice