Letter from the Chief Inspector of General Practice
We carried out an announced comprehensive inspection at Kiltearn Medical Centre on 11 November 2015. Overall the practice is rated as good.
Our key findings across all 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, monitored, appropriately reviewed and addressed.
- Risks to patients were assessed and well managed.
- Patients’ needs were assessed and care was planned and delivered following best practice guidance. Staff had received training appropriate to their roles and any further training needs had been identified and planned.
- 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 not readily available in document form once provided it was easy to understand.
- Patients said they often found it difficult to make an appointment; however there was good 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.
We saw two areas of outstanding practice:
- The practice was engaged in formal medical research and one of the GPs led this area of work, we saw that some of the research had led to new medicines being introduced nationally
- The practice had a robust clinical audit regime, some of the findings from these audits had led to the best practice being identified and shared with other providers in the area
However there were areas of practice where the provider needs to make improvements.
Importantly the provider MUST:
Additionally the provider should:
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Ensure infection control training is provided for staff with specific responsibilities for this.
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Ensure that all stocks of equipment are within date for their use
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Ensure there is a robust system for checking medicines are stored at the correct temperature
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Ensure nursing staff have effective clinical supervision
Professor Steve Field (CBE FRCP FFPH FRCGP)
Chief Inspector of General Practice