Archived: Dr Gordon Jones Also known as Dr G I Jones t/a Ashover Medical Practice

Letter from the Chief Inspector of General Practice

We carried out an announced focused inspection at Dr Gordon Jones (Ashover Medical Centre) on 4 August 2017. As this was a focused inspection, the overall rating for the practice remains unchanged as good. The practice was previously inspected in October 2014 and the full report can be found at http://www.cqc.org.uk/location/1-560625044. The inspection in October 2014 rated the practice as being good overall with a good rating for each of the five domains assessed (safe, effective, caring, responsive and well-led services).

We reviewed the caring, responsive and well-led domains as part of our focused inspection. This was because we were aware that the practice had achieved excellent results in the national GP survey since our last inspection. We rated the practice as outstanding for caring and responsive, and good for well-led at our inspection in August 2017.

Our key findings across all the areas we inspected were as follows:

• The practice team demonstrated a strong patient-centred ethos to the way they provided the service at all times. They were passionate about patient care and ensured they did their utmost to deliver responsive, effective and safe care at all times.
• Feedback from patients about their interactions with all practice staff was consistently and strongly positive. Patients said they were treated with compassion, dignity and respect and they were involved in their care and decisions about their treatment.
• Patients said they found it easy to make an appointment with a GP and could always contact the practice easily by telephone. Routine appointments could be booked within two days, with urgent appointments being available the same day. The appointment system was flexible to suit individual requirements. Advanced bookings could be made without restriction on timescales.
• Patient experience as measured via the national GP patient survey showed the practice performed more highly than local and national averages in terms of how patients were cared for and how they could access treatment and advice. There had been consistent high performance over the last few years. The latest data published in July 2017 ranked the practice as the top performing practice in their CCG (35 practices) and in the top 20 (of approximately 7,600 practices) in England for a number of indicators.
• The practice worked closely with other organisations and with the local community in planning how services were provided to ensure that they meet patients’ needs.
• The practice implemented suggestions for improvements and made changes to the way it delivered services as a consequence of feedback from patients and from the patient participation group. For example, the practice had made changes to the environment to accommodate the needs of patients with dementia.
• The practice had good facilities and was well equipped to treat patients and meet their needs.
• The practice actively reviewed complaints and concerns and how they were managed and responded to. Lessons were learnt and improvements made as a result.
• The practice had a clear vision and involved staff and the PPG to actively participate in discussions about the future.
• The practice had strong and visible clinical and managerial leadership supported by effective governance arrangements.
• Staff felt supported by management and turnover was minimal. The practice team worked as a cohesive unit with flexibility to cover roles, which was essential as a small practice. The provider was aware of the requirements of the duty of candour. Examples we reviewed showed the practice complied with these requirements.

Professor Steve Field (CBE FRCP FFPH FRCGP) 

Chief Inspector of General Practice