The Care Quality Commission
  • Doctor
  • GP practice

Archived: Dr Thompson and Partners Also known as Strand Medical Group

Overall: Good read more about inspection ratings

2-6 The Strand, Goring-By-Sea, Worthing, West Sussex, BN12 6DN (01903) 243351

Provided and run by:
Strand Medical

Important: This service is now registered at a different address - see new profile

All Inspections

14 December 2019

During an annual regulatory review

We reviewed the information available to us about Dr Thompson and Partners on 14 December 2019. We did not find evidence of significant changes to the quality of service being provided since the last inspection. As a result, we decided not to inspect the surgery at this time. We will continue to monitor this information about this service throughout the year and may inspect the surgery when we see evidence of potential changes.

22 February 2017

During an inspection looking at part of the service

Letter from the Chief Inspector of General Practice

The practice is rated good overall and good for providing safe services.

We carried out an announced comprehensive inspection of this practice on 31 May 2016. The overall rating for the practice was good. However, a breach of legal requirements was found during that inspection within the safe domain. After the comprehensive inspection, the practice sent us an action plan detailing what they would do to meet the legal requirements. We conducted a focused inspection on 22 February 2017 to check that the provider had followed their action plan and to confirm that they now met legal requirements. This report only covers our findings in relation to those requirements.

During our previous inspection on 31 May 2016 we found the following area where the practice must improve:

  • Ensure the safe storage of vaccines.

Our previous report also highlighted the following areas where the practice should improve:

  • Continue to improve exception reporting figures.

  • Continue to improve patient satisfaction with accessing the practice by phone and with practice opening hours.

  • Continue to improve the patient satisfaction with helpfulness of the reception team.

You can read the report from our last comprehensive inspection, by selecting the 'all reports' link on our website at www.cqc.org.uk

During the inspection on 22 February 2017 we found:

  • Arrangements were in place for the safe storage of vaccines.

We also found the following in relation to the areas where the practice should improve:

  • The practice was taking steps to improve the exception reporting. There was now a dedicated phone line for patients to call to book their annual review and patients received a reminder call from the nursing team for patients who did not attend. Data to show the progress made since our last inspection was not yet available.

  • The practice was taking steps to improve their satisfaction scores on helpfulness of the reception team. All reception staff had received training on managing challenging conversations.

  • The practice had a comprehensive action plan to increase patients’ access to the practice by phone and to appointments. There was a new phone system in place and improvements to procedures for making appointments.

Professor Steve Field (CBE FRCP FFPH FRCGP) 

Chief Inspector of General Practice

31 May 2016

During a routine inspection

Letter from the Chief Inspector of General Practice

We carried out an announced comprehensive inspection at Strand Medical Group on 31 May 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 generally assessed and well managed. However, the practice did not demonstrate that vaccines were safely stored.
  • 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 difficult to make an appointment to see a GP or nurse because they could not get through on the phone.
  • 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.

The areas where the provider must make improvement are:

  • Ensure the safe storage of vaccines.

The area where the provider should make improvement is:

  • Continue to improve exception reporting figures.

  • Continue to improve patient satisfaction with accessing the practice by phone and with practice opening hours.

  • Continue to improve patient satisfaction with the helpfulness of the reception team.

Professor Steve Field (CBE FRCP FFPH FRCGP) 

Chief Inspector of General Practice

31 January 2014

During a routine inspection

We spoke with four patients who attended the practice on the day of our inspection. They were happy with the care and treatment provided by the surgery. One patient said, 'It's a lovely surgery.' Another said, 'It's very good. Excellent.' They said staff were friendly and polite and that the doctors and nurses involved them in decisions about their care. Some patients said it was sometimes difficult to make an appointment to see the doctor when they wanted to.

We spoke with two GPs, the business manager, two nurses, one receptionist and one administrator. They all said they received sufficient training and felt well supported in their roles.

Patients who used the service were protected from the risk of abuse. We saw that the practice had policies and procedures in place to safeguard children and vulnerable adults and that staff were aware of their roles and responsibilities in relation to this.

The practice had an effective system to regularly assess and monitor the quality of service that patients received. They regularly sought the views of patients through surveys and used these to improve the service. We also saw that learning took place from significant events, complaints and audits.