10 November 2023
During an inspection looking at part of the service
We carried out an announced focused inspection at Milton Road Surgery on 10 November 2023. Overall, the practice is rated as good.
Safe - not inspected, rating of good carried forward from previous inspection
Effective - not inspected, rating of good carried forward from previous inspection
Caring - not inspected, rating of good carried forward from previous inspection
Responsive – requires improvement
Well-led - not inspected, rating of good carried forward from previous inspection
Following our previous inspection on 25 May 2022 the practice was rated good overall and for all key questions.
The full reports for previous inspections can be found by selecting the ‘all reports’ link for Milton Road Surgery on our website at www.cqc.org.uk
Why we carried out this inspection
We carried out this assessment as part of our work to understand how practices are working to try to meet demand for access and to better understand the experiences of people who use services and providers.
We recognise the work that GP practices have been engaged in to continue to provide safe, quality care to the people they serve. We know colleagues are doing this while demand for general practice remains exceptionally high, with more appointments being provided than ever. In this challenging context, access to general practice remains a concern for people. Our strategy makes a commitment to deliver regulation driven by people’s needs and experiences of care. These assessments of the responsive key question include looking at what practices are doing innovatively to improve patient access to primary care and sharing this information to drive improvement.
How we carried out the inspection/review
This assessment was carried out remotely. It did not include a site visit.
The process included:
• Conducting an interview with the provider and members of staff using video conferencing.
• Reviewing patient feedback from a range of sources
• Requesting evidence from the provider.
• Reviewing data we hold about the service
• Seeking information/feedback from relevant stakeholders
Our findings
We based our judgement of the responsive key question on a combination of:
• what we found when we met with the provider
• information from our ongoing monitoring of data about services and
• information from the provider, patients, the public and other organisations.
We found that:
• The practice scored higher than the national average regarding access by phone, however, the practice received lower than local and national average scores for patient satisfaction in their experience of making an appointment, satisfaction with appointment times and with the appointments they were offered.
• Patient feedback was mixed in that the GP patient survey results were lower than the national average in certain areas, but recent patient feedback on the practice website reflected that patients could access care and treatment in a timely way.
• During the assessment process, the provider highlighted the actions they have taken to make improvements to the responsiveness of the service for their patient population. The effect of these efforts were being reflected in real-time patient feedback.
Details of our findings and the evidence supporting our ratings are set out in the evidence tables.
Dr Sean O’Kelly BSc MB ChB MSc DCH FRCA
Chief Inspector of Health Care