Archived: Norton Medical Practice

Letter from the Chief Inspector of General Practice

We carried out an announced comprehensive inspection at Norton Medical Practice on 4 August 2015. Overall the practice is rated as good.

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

• Staff understood and fulfilled their responsibilities to raise concerns, and to report incidents and near misses. Information about safety was recorded, monitored, appropriately reviewed and addressed.
• Risks to patients were assessed and well managed with the exception of risks associated with legionella, the absence of emergency medical equipment that reflects national standards and staff undertaking duties without appropriate checks or risk assessments in place
• Recruitment checks were in place with the exception of a disclosure and barring check (DBS) for the practice healthcare assistant. The practice did not complete risk assessments to assess the risk of not having DBS checks for staff that chaperoned.
• Patients’ needs were assessed and care was planned and delivered following best practice guidance. Staff had received training appropriate to their roles and any further training needs had been identified and planned.
• 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.
• The practice had regular multidisciplinary meetings and practice meetings. We found that nursing staff were not regularly included in the practice meetings and therefore information from audits, significant events and complaints were not always fed back to the nursing team.
• Patients said they found it easy to make an appointment with a named GP and that there was continuity of care, with urgent appointments available the same day.
• 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.

However there were areas of practice where the provider needs to make improvements.

The areas where the provider must make improvements are:

• Ensure effective recruitment checks are in place under current legislation, including disclosure and barring checks (DBS) for all clinical staff.
• Ensure risk assessments are in place to assess the risk of not having disclosure and barring checks (DBS) for staff that chaperone.

In addition the provider should:

• Ensure key information from significant events, complaints and audits are shared consistently with all relevant staffing groups within the practice so that learning can be applied and shared across all areas.
• Assess and manage risks associated with legionella

Professor Steve Field (CBE FRCP FFPH FRCGP) 

Chief Inspector of General Practice