Archived: The Easton Family Practice

Letter from the Chief Inspector of General Practice

We carried out our inspection on 4th December 2014. We inspected The Easton Family Practice, also known as Charlotte Keel Health Centre as part of our new comprehensive inspection programme. The practice had not been inspected under our new methodology before and that was why we included them.

Overall we found the practice is rated as good. We saw examples of a safe, effective, caring, responsive and well-led practice. Patients reported high levels of satisfaction with the practice during our inspection and this was reflected in the comment cards we also received.

Our key findings were as follows:

• Access to the practice was good with urgent appointments being bookable on the day and less urgent appointments being bookable in advance. There was an online booking system available to patients.
• The GPs held individual patient lists which enabled patients to see a named GP of their choice for the majority of appointments.
• There were systems in place which ensured patient safety and prompt referrals to other services to ensure patients health was maintained or improved.
• The practice had systems in place which ensured a hygienic environment was maintained.
• Patients were treated with dignity and respect by a staff team who understood patients’ needs. A translation service was available in the practice to meet the needs of the local population.
• Communication within the practice and to other services outside the practice was effective.
• The leadership of the management team ensured staff were informed and supported to deliver safe and effective care to patients.

We saw several areas of outstanding practice including:

• The practice had access to, and used, an interpretation service based in the practice to help if communicate with patients who did not have English as a main language. This supplemented their access to the NHS language line and the ability of one GP to speak five languages.
• The practice provided a drop-in educational sessions about diabetes for patients who did not have English as a first language. Each session covered a different aspect of diabetes such as foot care, diet and eye care.
• The practice worked closely with and referred patients to a local service that assessed and meet the initial health needs of asylum seekers.
• One of the practice nurses in conjunction with a dietician, deliver a programme about diabetes to newly diagnosed patients with type II diabetes. This is provided across the Bristol area.
• The practice carried out joint patient consultations with local mental health teams and worked closely with drug addiction project workers to ensure better outcomes for patients.
• The practice had 401care plans in place for patients with complex needs.
• One of the practice nurses had identified a gap in patient recording which collated information about long term conditions. They developed a form for all staff to use, integrated it into the patient record system and shared with other local practices.

However, there was also an area of practice where the provider needs to make improvements.

The provider should:

Review their system for ordering medicines for the practice to ensure orders are made based on the needs of the practice.

Professor Steve Field CBE FRCP FFPH FRCGP

Chief Inspector of General Practice