The Care Quality Commission
  • Doctor
  • GP practice

The Bucklebury Practice Also known as Chapel Row Surgery

Overall: Good read more about inspection ratings

Chapel Row Surgery, The Avenue, Bucklebury, Reading, Berkshire, RG7 6NS (0118) 971 3252

Provided and run by:
The Bucklebury Practice

All Inspections

During an assessment under our new approach

Date of Assessment: 16 July 2026 to 22 July 2026. The Bucklebury Practice is a GP practice and delivers service to approximately 9,000 patients under a contract held with NHS England. According to the latest available data, the ethnic make-up of the service area is approximately 94.1% White, 2% Asian, 2.4% Mixed, 1% Black and .5% Other. Information published by the Office for Health Improvement and Disparities shows deprivation within the service population group is in the 9th decile (9 of 10). We have decided to carry out a comprehensive assessment as it has been 9 years since our last site visit. This assessment considered the demographics of the people using the service, the context the service was working within and how this impacted service delivery. Where relevant, further commentary is provided in the quality statements section of this report.

15 June 2016

During a routine inspection

Letter from the Chief Inspector of General Practice

We carried out an announced comprehensive inspection at The Bucklebury Practice on 15 June 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 provider was aware of and complied with the requirements of the duty of candour.

However,

  • The practice used patient group directions (PGDs) for some travel vaccines. We found two of these had expired in March 2016. The practice nursing team were unaware of the expiry date, they had not been informed by NHS England and there were no further updates or extensions to the existing ones. Once it was brought to their attention, one of the nurses completed a significant event record and initiated the use of a patient specific direction to cover the small number of patients requiring these vaccines. During a root cause analysis of the event, it transpired the GPs were signing the travel assessment form which prescribed the vaccine by default.

The areas where the provider should make improvements are:

  • To ensure a system is in place for checking the patient group directions expiry dates for travel vaccines.

Professor Steve Field (CBE FRCP FFPH FRCGP) 

Chief Inspector of General Practice