Archived: Portswood Solent GP Practice

Letter from the Chief Inspector of General Practice

We carried out an announced comprehensive inspection at Portswood Solent GP Practice on 28 June 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 assessed and well managed.

• 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 easy to make an appointment with a named GP and 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.
• The provider was aware of and complied with the requirements of the duty of candour.
• The practice provided an anti-coagulation service, managed by the practice nurses, including those who were housebound.
• The practice followed the Identification and Referral to Improve Safety (IRIS) system which trained staff to focus on identification of Domestic Violence and Abuse through clinical enquiry and guides response, referral and recording.

We saw areas of outstanding practice:

• The practice employed and introduced the role of a nurse practitioner for older people (NPOP). This consisted of an experienced nurse practitioner allocated for home visits for patients over 75 years of age. The NPOP co-ordinated meetings with the multi-disciplinary team and responded quickly to home visit requests, for example, on the same day to urgent requests from care homes or after hospital discharge. They completed a mortality review for the whole practice to learn from. Following the introduction of the NPOP, there was a reduction of GP visits from 50 to 26 over a four month period.

The area where the provider must make improvements are:

• Ensure the practice specific policies and Solent NHS trust policies are up to date to ensure all staff are aware which policy is current and where they are accessed.

The areas where the provider should make improvement are:

• Review the processes and systems in place to promote patient uptake in cervical screening, bowel and breast screening.
• Ensure that the medicines policies and procedures are followed at all times, particularly in relation to vaccine storage. 

Professor Steve Field (CBE FRCP FFPH FRCGP) 

Chief Inspector of General Practice