Nettleham Medical Practice provided primary medical services for approximately 11,200 patients living in Nettleham, Cherry Willingham and the surrounding villages. The practice provided dispensing services at both the main surgery and the branch surgery at Cherry Willingham. The practice had been established as a GP training practice for many years and provided training to medical students and GP Registrars. These are qualified doctors who wish to pursue a career in General Practice. The practice was associated with the Lincolnshire GP Vocational Training Scheme and was assessed by the East Midlands Deanery.
We carried out the inspection as part of our new inspection programme to test our approach. It took place over one day with a team that included three CQC inspectors, a GP and a nurse. We sought advice from a CQC pharmacy inspector.
Before our inspection we spoke with representatives from three residential and nursing homes where patients were registered with the practice.
During our inspection we spoke with eleven patients who used the service. We received and reviewed sixteen comments cards, which had been left for patients to complete, by the CQC. We spoke with seventeen members of staff.
The regulated activities we inspected were diagnostic and screening procedures, family planning, maternity and midwifery services, surgical procedures and treatment of disease, disorder or injury.
There were effective processes in place to ensure that learning from significant events, complaints and feedback from patients was shared in order to improve patient experience.
The practice had taken robust steps to ensure that all staff underwent a thorough and rigorous recruitment and induction process. However, there was scope to improve the level of completion of the training required by the practice for some subject areas.
There were appropriate arrangements in place for the obtaining, recording, handling, using, storage, dispensing and the disposal of medicines, which minimised the risks to patients which are associated with medicines. However, there was scope for improvement in ensuring there were procedures in place for dealing with uncollected prescriptions and dispensed medicines.
We found the practice was effective at meeting patient’s needs. The practice worked well with other health and social care services which ensured the best care and support for patients.
Patients told us that overall they were happy with the service provided. Patients said they were involved in decisions about their care and treatment and were treated with dignity and respect by staff. We observed patients being treated in a caring and helpful manner whilst their confidentiality was maintained. We found there was no information available that advised patients they could ask to speak confidentially to non-clinical staff members at reception, if they required.
We saw that the practice was aware of the different needs of patients and responded appropriately to meet these.
We found the practice was well led and managed by an enthusiastic and knowledgeable management team who were keen to continue to improve the service for the benefit of patients. The level of completion of the training required by the practice was recorded as being at a low level for some subject areas. The practice was aware of this and was taking steps to ensure staff completed the training they judged to be needed.