Letter from the Chief Inspector of General Practice
This practice is rated as Good overall.
We previously inspected all four locations of The
Three Shires Medical Practice
in June 2016 and rated them as good:
Pucklechurch Surgery - Good
Colerne Surgery - Good
Marshfield Surgery - Good
Wick Surgery - Good
The key questions and rating for Three Shires Medical Practice - Wick are
:
Are services safe? - Requires Improvement
Are services effective? - Good
Are services caring? - Good
Are services responsive? - Good
Are services well-led? - Good
As part of our inspection process, we also look at the quality of care for specific population groups. The population groups for The
Three Shires Medical Practice - Wick
are rated as:
Older People - Good
People with long-term conditions - Good
Families, children and young people - Good
Working age people (including those recently retired and students - Good
People whose circumstances may make them vulnerable - Good
People experiencing poor mental health (including people with dementia) - Good
We carried out an announced comprehensive inspection at The Three Shires Medical Practice on 21 November 2017 as part of our inspection programme. We visited all four locations at Pucklechurch, Colerne, Marshfield and Wick, which between them serve a single patient list. The practice is led and governed by a single management team who are responsible for all regulated activities across all four surgery locations.
At this inspection we found:
- The practice had systems to manage risk so that safety incidents were less likely to happen. However, arrangements for fire safety were not effectively implemented at all four locations; and when incidents did happen, the practice arrangements to learn from them and improve their processes were not fully implemented.
-
The practice routinely reviewed the effectiveness and appropriateness of the care it provided. It ensured that care and treatment was delivered according to evidence- based guidelines.
-
Staff involved and treated patients with compassion, kindness, dignity and respect.
-
Patients found the appointment system easy to use and reported that they were able to access care when they needed it. We saw evidence of very positive feedback from patients.
-
There was a focus on continuous learning and improvement at all levels of the organisation. However, learning was not consistently shared across all four locations.
-
Arrangements for dispensing medicines at the practice kept patients safe. However, some aspects of security of medicines and prescription stationery should be reviewed.
-
The practice returned above average achievement under the Quality and Outcomes Framework (QOF is a system intended to improve the quality of general practice and reward good practice).
-
Evidence of improvement in the cohesion of practice management processes across a
number of topics and across all four surgery locations. However, further improvement should be made to ensure fully co-ordinated management arrangements.
The areas where the provider must make improvements as they are in breach of regulations are:
-
Ensure care and treatment is provided in a safe way to patients, in particular in relation to arrangements for fire safety.
The areas where the provider should make improvements are:
-
Review arrangements for the security of medicines at the Marshfield surgery in relation to the dispensary and vaccine fridges to reduce the risk of unauthorised access, including outside normal surgery opening hours.
-
Review arrangements for non-clinical incidents to ensure they are implemented effectively and consistently at all four Locations; and when incidents happen, the practice learns from them and improves their processes.
-
Review records of training to ensure all staff have an up to date record of training relevant to their role, including a consistent approach for sepsis.
-
Review arrangements to provide consistency in monitoring of Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) safety alerts, to ensure all have been received at all four locations and all actions have been completed and recorded.
- Review arrangements for the security of the patient records and tracking of blank prescription stationery.
Professor Steve Field (CBE FRCP FFPH FRCGP)
Chief Inspector of General Practice