24 May 2016
During a routine inspection
Letter from the Chief Inspector of General Practice
We carried out an announced comprehensive inspection at SSAFA Southglade Health Centre on 24 May 2016. Overall the practice is rated as good.
Our key findings across all the areas we inspected were as follows:
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There was an open and transparent approach to safety and an effective system in place for reporting and recording significant events and near misses, and we saw evidence that learning was applied.
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The practice usedproactive methods to improve patient outcomes, working with other local providers to share best practice. For example, education courses were offered to patients with long term conditions such as diabetes and working with the local diabetes specialist nurse to improve the wellbeing of patients.
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Feedback from patients about their care was consistently positive. Data from the GP survey was consistently high and this included confidence in care provided by GPs, where 94% of patients surveyed said they had confidence and trust in the last GP they saw or spoke to.
- The practice planned and co-ordinated patient care with the wider multi-disciplinary team to plan and deliver effective and responsive care to keep vulnerable patients safe.
- The practice implemented suggestions for improvements and made changes to the way it delivered services as a consequence of feedback from patients. There were regular patient surveys undertaken, and patients were currently invited to form a patient participation group as another means of engaging patients.
- The practice actively reviewed complaints to see if there were any recurrent themes, and identified issues where learning could be applied to improve patient experiences in the future.
- The practice had a clear vision which had quality and safety as its top priority. The strategy to deliver this vision had been produced with stakeholders and was regularly reviewed and discussed with staff.
- The practice had strong and visible clinical and managerial leadership and governance arrangements, and staff told us that they were well-supported and felt valued by the management.
However, the areas where the provider should make improvements are:
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Ensure safe patient care by identifying risk and doing all that is possible to mitigate this bydeveloping a system for the management of MHRA alerts in the practice so there is clear log of receipt and actions taken.
- Encourage the identification and recording of patients who are carers and offer them appropriate health and wellbeing support.
Professor Steve Field (CBE FRCP FFPH FRCGP)
Chief Inspector of General Practice