Letter from the Chief Inspector of General Practice
We carried out a comprehensive inspection of The Guildhall and Barrow surgery on 12 December 2014 under our new approach for primary medical services.
We found that The Guildhall & Barrow surgery provided a good service to patients in all of the five key areas we looked at. The practice provided a good service to patients across all age ranges and to patients with varied needs due to their health or social circumstances.
Our key findings were as follows:
There were systems in place to provide a safe, effective, caring, responsive and well led service. Patients and staff were kept safe because processes and procedures were being followed. Safety incidents were thoroughly investigated, analysed and learning opportunities had been identified. Robust infection control procedures were in place.
The practice was a caring practice with high quality committed GPs who provided a high level of personal care to their patients through the use of a “personal list” system. The staff were very committed to acting in the best interests of the patients. For example older patients were offered double and triple appointments in order that they could discuss multiple and complex issues during one visit to the surgery
Patients were satisfied with the service and felt they were treated with dignity, care and respect and involved in decisions about their care and treatment.
The surgery had developed a philosophy to ensure staff were well trained. There was strong visible leadership in place with an ethos of learning and improvement embedded into their procedures.
Monitoring and assessment of the services provided was achieved through a range of clinical and non-clinical audits. These were clear, concise and identified areas for improvement that had been followed up by timely action.
The practice operated a personal list system whereby each patient had a named GP. Families often shared the same named GP and this allowed GPs to identify the needs of family carers more quickly. Patients confirmed to us that they valued the personal list arrangement highly, as they felt that it afforded them personalised care from a GP that they knew and trusted.
Professor Steve Field (CBE FRCP FFPH FRCGP)
Chief Inspector of General Practice