16 December 2014
During a routine inspection
Letter from the Chief Inspector of General Practice
Honiton Surgery Group – Seamark, was inspected on Wednesday 16 December 2014. This was a comprehensive inspection. The Seamark practice is part of the Honiton Surgery Group. The practice is shared with another practice known as Ward Practice, which is in the same building. Staff are employed by the Honiton Surgery Group and work for both practices. There is a computer system that has a shared administrative facility which enables all teams to view patients as one data base (GPs, nurses, community nurses and administrative staff). Both practices work as if the Honiton Surgery is one practice, however financially they are separate and are registered with CQC as separate locations.
The practice provides primary medical services to people living in the town of Honiton.
The practice provides services to a diverse population age group and is situated in a town centre location.
The practice comprises of a team of five GP partners, who hold managerial and financial responsibility for running the Seamark partnership. In addition there are nine registered nurses, five health care assistants, a practice manager, and administrative and reception staff.
Patients who use the practice have access to community staff including district nurses, community psychiatric nurses, health visitors, physiotherapists, mental health staff, counsellors, chiropodist and midwives.
Our key findings were as follows:
Patients reported having good access to appointments at the practice and liked having a named GP which improved their continuity of care. The practice was clean, organised, with facilities and equipment to consult with, examine and treat patients. There were effective infection control procedures in place.
The practice valued feedback from patients and acted upon this. Feedback from patients about their current care and treatment was consistently positive. Staff portrayed a non-discriminatory, person centred culture. Staff were motivated and inspired to offer kind and compassionate care and worked to overcome obstacles to achieving this. Views of external stakeholders were very positive and aligned with our findings.
The practice was well-led and had a clear leadership structure in place whilst retaining a sense mutual respect and team work. There were systems in place to monitor and improve quality and identify risk and systems to manage emergencies.
Patient’s needs were assessed and care planned and delivered in line with current legislation. This included assessment of patients’ mental capacity to make decisions about their care and treatment, and the promotion of good health.
Recruitment, pre-employment checks, induction and appraisal processes were in place. Staff had received training appropriate to their roles and further training needs had been identified and planned.
Statistical data analysis demonstrated the practice performed comparatively with all other practices within the clinical commissioning group (CCG) area.
Patients felt safe in the hands of the staff and felt confident in clinical decisions made. There were effective safeguarding procedures in place.
Significant events, complaints and incidents were investigated and discussed. Learning from these events was performed and communicated amongst all staff.
Professor Steve Field (CBE FRCP FFPH FRCGP)
Chief Inspector of General Practice