Archived: Griffins Brook Medical Centre

Letter from the Chief Inspector of General Practice

We carried out an announced comprehensive inspection at Griffins Brook Medical Centre (BG Health) and the branch practice, Bunbury Road Surgery on 9 January 2017. Overall the practice is rated as good.

Our key findings across all of 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. Significant events were investigated, acted on when necessary and learning shared with staff.

• Risks to patients were assessed and well managed. There were safe systems for prescribing medicines.

• Staffing levels were monitored to ensure they reflected patients’ needs. Effective staff recruitment procedures ensured that only suitable staff were employed.

• The practice worked closely with other health and social care organisations and with the local community in planning how services were provided to ensure that they met patients’ needs. For example, clinical staff had identified patients who were frail and their needs discussed with other participating health professionals to assess and plan on-going care and treatment.

• Staff had been trained to provide them with the skills, knowledge and experience to deliver effective care and treatment and any further training had been identified and planned.

• Patients told us they were treated with compassion, dignity and respect and they were involved in decisions about their care and treatment. They said they were satisfied with standards of care they received.

• The latest data published showed that patient satisfaction in respect of access to the service and the standard of care were rated above the local and nation averages. Patients said they found it easy to make appointments and there was continuity of care, with urgent appointments available the same day.

• Information about how to make a complaint was readily available and easy to understand. Complaints were dealt with in a timely appropriate way.

• There was a clear leadership structure and staff told us they felt well supported by senior staff. Management sought feedback from patients and staff, which it acted on. The governance system monitored the quality of care and the overall performance across the practice. There was a written business plan that was regularly updated and took into account changes and developments such as, as increase in registered patients.

Professor Steve Field (CBE FRCP FFPH FRCGP) 

Chief Inspector of General Practice