Archived: Dr McGowan and Partners

Letter from the Chief Inspector of General Practice

We carried out an announced comprehensive inspection at Dr McGowan and Partners on 15 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.
• The practice took the opportunities available to them to improve the range of services available to patients.
• Staff were experienced, engaged, confident and well trained for their role.
• Risks to patients were thoroughly 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 the 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.

We saw an outstanding feature of the practice:

The practice had taken action following patient and staff feedback about high patient demand for appointments. A GP provided daily cover as a ‘floor walker’ each morning. This was to directly support staff to flow patients to the most suitable appointment for their needs. Patients had the benefit of, when appropriate, being able to talk with the GP directly to discuss their issue. The practice was able to demonstrate that the GP was able to resolve around 75% of issues at the time of the call. Previously this would have resulted in an on the day appointment being taken. Commonly the GP was dealing with in excess of 20 patient contacts each morning as a floor walker.

Professor Steve Field (CBE FRCP FFPH FRCGP) 

Chief Inspector of General Practice