Archived: The Sidings Medical Practice

This practice is rated as Requires Improvement overall.

The key questions are rated as:

Are services safe? – Requires improvement.

Are services effective? – Good

Are services caring? – Good

Are services responsive? – Good

Are services well-led? – Requires improvement

This inspection was a comprehensive announced inspection carried out on 12 September 2018.

At this inspection we found:

• The practice had clear systems to manage risk so that safety incidents were less likely to happen. When incidents did happen, the practice learned from them and improved their processes.
• There was a process in place to help protect vulnerable patients from abuse.
• 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.
• Some patients had reported they experienced difficulty accessing the surgery by telephone to make appointments and that routine pre-bookable appointments were sometimes difficult to obtain.
• The practice website did not provide any information on extended hours appointments despite the practice hosting the Boston extended hours hub.
• There was no effective system in place to manage uncollected prescriptions.
• The systems for managing blank prescription forms did not ensure their security.
• Not all staff had received training in dealing with cases of suspected SEPSIS
• There was no oversight or monitoring of the prescribing practice of non-medical prescribers.
• It was acknowledged that the merger of the two practices had been complex and that the administration processes were not fully integrated.
• Whilst there was a strong and dedicated practice team we found that integration across the two former practice teams was variable.

The areas where the provider must make improvements are:

• Establish effective systems and processes to ensure good governance in accordance with the fundamental standards of care

The areas where the provider should make improvements are:

• Continue to review and assess the availability of appointments and ease of telephone access to the practice.
• Review the practice website to ensure that it contains up to date information, including information on extended hours appointments.

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Professor Steve Field CBE FRCP FFPH FRCGPChief Inspector of General Practice