5 August 2015
During a routine inspection
Letter from the Chief Inspector of General Practice
We carried out an announced comprehensive inspection at Dr Benson and Dr Ring’s practice on 5 August 2015. Overall the practice is rated as good.
Our key findings across all the areas we inspected were as follows:
- Patients’ needs were assessed and care was planned and delivered following best practice guidance. Staff had received training appropriate to their roles.
- There were systems in place to reduce risks to patient safety, for example infection prevention and control procedures and health and safety assessments.
- Staff understood and fulfilled their responsibilities to raise concerns and to report incidents, near misses and any identified safeguarding issues.
- Information about services and how to complain was available and easy to understand.
- The practice sought patient views how improvements could be made to the service, through the use of patient surveys and the patient representation group (PRG).
- Urgent appointments were available for patients the same day as requested, although not necessarily with a GP of their choice.
- Patients said they were treated with compassion, dignity and respect and were involved in care and decisions about their treatment.
We saw an area of outstanding practice:
- The practice had participated in a local medicines management initiative and could evidence significant improvements in prescribing and patient understanding. As a result of the achievements the polyparmacy scheme had been shortlisted for an award by a national health journal.
Professor Steve Field (CBE FRCP FFPH FRCGP)
Chief Inspector of General Practice