26 January 2016
During a routine inspection
Letter from the Chief Inspector of General Practice
We carried out an announced comprehensive inspection at Wayside Medical Practice on 26 January 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 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.
- Patients said they did not always find it easy to make an appointment with a named GP; however there were some urgent appointments available the same day.
- Results from the national GP patient survey showed that patients’ satisfaction with how they could access care and treatment was worse than local and national averages.
- 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 sought feedback from staff and patients, but it did not demonstrate that it acted on patient feedback regarding access to the service.
- The provider was aware of and complied with the requirements of the Duty of Candour.
We saw one area of outstanding practice:
- The practice supported a high security 52 bedded unit for young male adults detained under the Mental Health Act 1983. The lead GP provided the service with a weekly ward round and had undertaken enhanced training to support the role. We saw positive examples of patient outcomes and of multi-disciplinary team working with both the private provider holding the NHS contract for the unit and the practice team.
The areas where the provider should make improvement are:
- Continue to monitor feedback from patients about access to the service.
- Review the level of exception reporting in the Quality and Outcomes framework ( QOF)
- Review the practice performance in QOF for monitoring the blood pressure of patients with hypertension and for patients with diabetes.
Professor Steve Field (CBE FRCP FFPH FRCGP)
Chief Inspector of General Practice