Letter from the Chief Inspector of General Practice
Dr Gupta and partners, (also known as Waverley PMS, is located in Plumstead in the London Borough of Greenwich in south-east London; and provides a general practice service to around 5,088 patients. The Waverley Practice operates a branch surgery at the Welling, 209 Wickham Street, Welling, Kent, DA16 3LP, which was not inspected as part of this inspection.
We carried out an announced comprehensive inspection on 10 December 2014.
Overall the practice is rated as Good. Specifically, we found the practice to be good for providing well-led, effective, caring and responsive services. The practice required improvement for providing safe services.
We found the practice requires improvement in the care provided to people whose circumstances may make them vulnerable. We found the practice good at providing safe, effective, caring, responsive and well-led services for the other population groups we report on.
Our key findings 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.
• Patients said they were treated with compassion, dignity and respect and they were involved in their care and decisions about their treatment.
• 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.
• 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.
• There were systems in place for reporting, recording and monitoring significant events to help provide improved care.
• Staff shared best practice through internal arrangements and meetings and also by sharing knowledge and expertise with external consultants and other GP practices.
• Feedback from patients we spoke with during our inspection, in relation to their care and treatment was very positive. However patient feedback seen from the national GP survey 2012/2013 was mostly in the middle range.
• The practice has an active Patient Participation Group (PPG) and worked with them to improve the service. The practice had a strong focus on caring and on the provision of patient-centred care.
However, there were also areas of practice where the provider needs to make improvements.
The provider must:
- Patients were at risk of harm because systems and processes were not in place to keep them safe. Staff did not know how to recognise or identify what constituted a safeguarding concern and had not been trained in adult safeguarding.
- Ensure the availability of medical oxygen for use in the event of medical emergencies.
The provider should:
- Ensure availability of an Automated External Defibrillator (AED) or undertake a risk assessment if a decision is made to not have an AED on-site.
Professor Steve Field (CBE FRCP FFPH FRCGP)
Chief Inspector of General Practice