Conway Road Medical Practice

Letter from the Chief Inspector of General Practice

We carried out an announced comprehensive inspection at Conway Road Medical Practice on 12 April 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.
• Lessons were learned, information was shared and action was taken to reduce re-occurrence when incidents were raised. A number of positive incidents were shared during the inspection but these had not been recorded.
• Risks to patients were 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. All the patient feedback we received was positive.
• 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 that improvements had been made with the appointment system and they found it easy to make an appointment with a named GP. They said 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.
• The provider was aware of and complied with the requirements of the duty of candour.

We saw some areas of outstanding practice:

• The practice had made arrangements to attend local schools to educate pupils about how to manage their physical and mental health, advise them about the different services available to them and encourage them to seek help when necessary without concern about confidentiality. The point of this was to educate more young people to manage their health at a younger age and therefore reduce long-term conditions in the future.

• They encouraged and assisted staff to progress in their careers. For example they mentored, supported and paid for a member of staff to progress from a health care assistant to a registered practice nurse.

The areas where the provider should make improvement are:

• A member of the clinical team should have a lead role for infection control and staff in infection control lead roles should receive appropriate training to enable them to carry out that role effectively.

Professor Steve Field CBE FRCP FFPH FRCGP 

Chief Inspector of General Practice