Halesowen Medical Practice

Letter from the Chief Inspector of General Practice

We carried out an announced comprehensive inspection at Halesowen Medical Practice on 20 January 2017. Overall the practice is rated as good.

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

• Throughout our inspection we noted a strong theme of positive feedback from patients and staff. Patients said they were treated with compassion, dignity and respect and they were involved in their care and decisions about their treatment.

• We saw that when significant events were formally recorded, they reflected a best practice process. The practice as a whole encouraged a culture of openness and honesty and staff at all levels were supported and encouraged to raise concerns. There was a nominated staff member as a ‘freedom to speak up’ guardian, this enabled staff to feel confident in speaking freely, safely and in confidence.

• The practice was proactive in identifying patients with complex health conditions. The practice used effective principles to streamline processes. Staff effectively monitored quality and collated and analysed information to support practice capacity and service demand.

• We saw how the practice maximised use of their IT system in an innovative way to develop effective pathways within their patient record system. This included the development of an effective recall system where patients were called in to the practice for monitoring and reviews, based on their conditions and personal needs. Practice data highlighted that 98% of their patients with a long term condition had received a medicines review within the last 12 months.

• The practice took a proactive approach to understanding the needs of their patients who were carers. Due to ongoing work to identify and support carers, the practices carers register had steadily increased from 1% to 3% since 2015 and carers were offered support and regularly reviewed by the practice.

• A programme of continuous clinical and internal audit was used to monitor quality and to make improvements. This was with the exception of the minor surgery infection control audit, which did not demonstrate actions taken as a result of improvements identified.

• The practice implemented suggestions for improvements and made changes to the way it delivered services as a consequence of feedback from patients, staff and from the patient participation group (PPG).

• The PPG regularly carried out fund raising for the practice through practice events and practice raffles. The monies raised were invested in to the practice through purchasing medical equipment to benefit patients. Equipment purchased was often as a result of feedback from staff. For example, staff had identified that blood pressure monitors would be useful for patients who required monitoring at home.

• We observed the premises to be visibly clean and tidy. There were accessible facilities for patients with mobility needs and translation services available at the practice. The practice also had a portable hearing loop; staff explained how the GPs were able to take this on home visits whilst visiting patients with hearing difficulties.

• The practice had a clear vision which had quality and safety as its top priority. The practice team was forward thinking and the practice was involved in a number of local pilot projects developed to respond and meet people’s needs.

• The practice had a regular schedule of practice meetings and there was an overarching governance framework which supported the delivery of the practice’s strategy and good quality care.

The areas where the provider should make improvements are:

• Continue to ensure that records are kept to support monitoring of emergency equipment and effective management of uncollected prescriptions.

• Ensure systems are in place to monitor and improve infection control procedures. This should include acting on findings of audits and maintaining records that demonstrate cleaning of all equipment and practice carpets.

Professor Steve Field (CBE FRCP FFPH FRCGP) 

Chief Inspector of General Practice