Archived: Sutton Hill Medical Practice

Letter from the Chief Inspector of General Practice

We carried out an announced comprehensive inspection at Sutton Hill Medical Practice on 13 April 2016. A breach of legal requirement was found and a requirement notice was served. After the comprehensive inspection the practice sent us an action plan to say what they would do to meet legal requirements in relation to:

• Regulation 12 of the Health and Social Care Act 2008 (Regulated Activities) Regulations 2014. Safe care and treatment.

We undertook a focused inspection on 20 June 2016. We did not visit the practice but reviewed information sent to us by the provider. The inspection was to check that the practice had followed their action plan and to confirm they now met legal requirements. This report only covers our findings in relation to those requirements. You can read the report from our last comprehensive inspection by selecting the ‘all reports’ link for Sutton Hill Medical Practice on our website at www.cqc.org.uk.

Our key findings were as follows:

• Non clinical staff were no longer permitted to undertake chaperone duties.
• The chaperone policy had been amended to reflect that clinical staff only undertook chaperone duties.

Overall the practice is rated as good and good in the safe domain. This recognises the improvements made to the quality of care provided by this service.

Professor Steve Field (CBE FRCP FFPH FRCGP) 

Chief Inspector of General Practice

Letter from the Chief Inspector of General Practice

We carried out an announced comprehensive inspection at Sutton Hill Medical Practice on 13 April 2016. Overall the practice is rated as good with safe as requires improvement.

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.
• Risks to patients were assessed and well managed, with the exception of where non clinical staff stand when chaperoning.
• 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 told us on the day of the inspection that they were able to get ‘on the day’ appointments when they needed them. However, they did comment that they didn’t always get to see the same GP.
• The practice had good facilities and was well equipped to treat patients and meet their needs.
• There was a clear leadership structure and staff felt supported by management. The practice proactively sought feedback from staff and patients, which it acted on.
• The provider was aware of and complied with the requirements of the duty of candour.

We saw one area of outstanding practice:

• One of the GP partners who had an interest in substance misuse, had recognised the need to support patients with substance misuse and provided a service at the practice for any patients in the locality. The GP was involved in the development of the Telford and Wrekin Substance Misuse Shared Care Programme, and was a member of the substance misuse steering group within the CCG. Patients could be seen by a GP at the practice and referred to and seen by a member of the Community Substance Misuse Team at the practice usually with the week. As part of the development of the shared care programme, training had been provided to other practices in the locality and approximately 60% of the practices had participated in the programme.

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

Importantly the provider must:

• Ensure that all staff undertaking chaperone duties are fully aware of their responsibilities and policies are reviewed to protect patients from the risk of harm.

The provider should:

• Adopt a more proactive approach to identifying and meeting the needs of carers.

Professor Steve Field (CBE FRCP FFPH FRCGP) 

Chief Inspector of General Practice