28 October 2015
During a routine inspection
We carried out an announced comprehensive inspection at Greenside Surgery on 28 October 2015. 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 to report incidents and near misses. Information about safety was recorded, monitored, appropriately reviewed and addressed.
- Risks to patients were assessed and well managed.
- Patients’ needs were assessed and care was planned and delivered following best practice guidance. Staff had received training appropriate to their roles and any further training needs had been identified and planned.
- 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.
- Patients said they found it easy to make an appointment with a named GP and that there was continuity of care, with urgent appointments available the same day.
- 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.
We saw two areas of outstanding practice:
- The team at Greenside Surgery through patient consultations, written advice and other publicity had sought to reduce the demand for inappropriate prescribing of medicines . They had successfully reduced the prescription rate of some medicines and by involving the whole team ensured patients were given correct and consistent advice.
- The practice had achieved high rates of flu vaccination uptake for patients aged over 65 and patients in defined influenza clinical risk groups through proactively contacting and encouraging patients to attend.
However there were areas that the practice needs to make improvements:
Importantly the provider should:
- Ensure the floor in the waiting room is not a slip or fall risk to patients
- Ensure benzylpenicillin is available in case of suspected meningitis
- Ensure that emergency medicines and equipment are stored together to enable a fast response in the case of an emergency.
- Ensure that all GPs have up to date safeguarding training to level three
Professor Steve Field CBE FRCP FFPH FRCGP
Chief Inspector of General Practice