Archived: The Tollerford Practice

Letter from the Chief Inspector of General Practice

We carried out an announced comprehensive inspection at The Tollerford Practice on 9 August 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.
• 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 make an appointment with a named GP and 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.

• The practice used video conferencing to link staff working at both sites in this rural area to support effective communication between staff.

• The provider was aware of and complied with the requirements of the duty of candour.

We saw areas of outstanding practice:

The practice employed a full time adult care co-ordinator in response to the higher than average older patient population. The adult care co-ordinator proactively sought to reduce unplanned hospital admissions. The role included signposting patients to relevant support services, reviewing care plans, carrying out home visits to facilitate reasonable adaptations and co-ordinated care between nurses, community matrons, social services and hospital clinicians. The positive impact of this work had been a reduction in unplanned hospital admissions by 8.6% since the new role commenced in 2014.

Professor Steve Field (CBE FRCP FFPH FRCGP) 

Chief Inspector of General Practice