Archived: Dr Emerson and Partners Also known as Bungay Medical Practice

Letter from the Chief Inspector of General Practice

We carried out an announced comprehensive inspection at Dr Emerson and Partners (known as Bungay Medical Practice) on 14 October 2014. Overall the practice is rated as good.

Specifically, we found the practice to be good for providing well-led, effective, caring and responsive services. It was also good for providing services for all of the population groups it serves. The practice required improvement for providing safe services.

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 and near misses. Information about safety was recorded, monitored, appropriately reviewed and addressed.
• Risks to patients were assessed and well managed, with the exception of those relating to medicines management where some improvements are required.
• Patients’ needs were assessed and care was planned and delivered following best practice guidance. Staff had received appropriate training and received support to further their individual training needs.
• 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 told us they did not always find it easy to make an appointment with a named GP although urgent appointments were usually available the same day.
• The practice had good facilities and was well equipped to treat patients and meet their needs. They had their own small charitable funds to help support the practice facilities and provide some enhanced resources for patients that were not covered by the NHS.  
• 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.

However there were areas of practice where the provider needs to make improvements.

Importantly the provider must:

• Improve arrangements for the safe management of medicines. The provider did not have appropriate arrangements in place for the safe supply of medicines as prescriptions were not always signed by a GP before the dispensed medicines were handed to patients
• Controlled drugs kept in doctor’s bags are required by law to be recorded in a special register. In addition, the practice must conduct comprehensive checks of all controlled drugs on a regular basis to ensure that all drugs can be accounted for and prompt action taken if any items are missing.

In addition, the provider should:

• The practice should review access and security of the keys to the dispensary and review the systems in place to track prescription pads.

• Ensure that all relevant staff are reminded of the vaccine administration and cold chain Policy.

• The practice should ensure that all relevant infection control policies contain information that is in line with the practice’s current procedures.

• The practice should strengthen their clinical audit plans so that the audit cycle is fully completed. This will maximise learning and improvement in practice.

Professor Steve Field (CBE FRCP FFPH FRCGP) 

Chief Inspector of General Practice