Letter from the Chief Inspector of General Practice
We carried out an announced comprehensive inspection at Minster Surgery on 29 January 2015. Overall the practice is rated as good.
Specifically, we found the practice to be good for providing effective, caring, responsive and well-led services. It was also good for providing services to older people, people with long-term conditions, families, children and young people, working age people (including those recently retired and students), people whose circumstances may make them vulnerable and people experiencing poor mental health (including people with dementia). It required improvement for providing safe services and the concerns which led to this rating applied to all population groups.
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. Information about safety was recorded, monitored, appropriately reviewed and addressed.
- Patients’ needs were assessed and care was planned and delivered following best practice guidance. Staff had received training appropriate to their roles, with the exception of some areas of training that had not been undertaken, although 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 available and easy to understand.
- 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.
We saw an area of outstanding practice:
- GPs undertook routine ‘mood screening’ for all new mothers at post-natal checks and followed-up non-attendance to help ensure signs of depression in new mothers was identified quickly. Double appointments were routinely offered to those patients who had been newly diagnosed with mental health issues.
However there were areas of practice where the provider needs to make improvements.
Importantly the provider MUST:
- Provide a safe and effective operating system in relation to preventing, detecting, and controlling the spread of infection, which includes having records and evidence of an audit programme, cleaning activity schedules and appropriate infection control training for staff.
- Provide a safe and effective operating system of recruitment, which includes obtaining DBS checks for administration staff who undertake chaperone duties.
Also, the provider SHOULD:
- review the policy arrangements for safeguarding vulnerable adults
- review the staff training requirements in relation to safeguarding vulnerable adults, chaperone duties, and the Mental Capacity Act 2005
- follow the practice recruitment policy to ensure all checks are in place when staff are employed
- review how risks are recorded, assessed and monitored within the practice.
Professor Steve Field (CBE FRCP FFPH FRCGP)
Chief Inspector of General Practice