Archived: Simpson Medical Practice

Letter from the Chief Inspector of General Practice

Simpson Medical Practice was inspected on 11 June 2015. This was a comprehensive inspection. This means we reviewed the provider in relation to the five key questions leading to a rating on each on a four point rating scale. Overall we rated the practice as good and specifically in respect of being safe, effective, caring, responsive and well-led.

Our key findings 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, including those relating to recruitment checks.

• Patients’ needs were assessed and care was planned and delivered following best practice guidance. Staff had received training appropriate to their roles and any further training needs had been identified and planned.

• 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 said they found it easy to make an appointment with a named GP and that 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.

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

Importantly the provider should:

• The clinical audits seen dated from 2011 to 2015. Some of the documentation relating to clinical audits was sparse. The provider acknowledged in their own quality assurance processes that improvements were needed to the clinical audit processes at the practice. The provider should ensure the actions taken to improve clinical audit processes are regularly reviewed to ensure improvement in this area is sustained.

• In line with good practice all formal complaints or concerns were recorded and investigated. The complaints record detailed the nature of the complaint, the outcome of the investigation and how this was communicated to the person making the complaint. However we were informed that some verbal complaints were not always recorded (where they were deemed to be of a ‘minor’ nature and had been quickly resolved). The provider should ensure that verbal complaints are recorded to determine if patterns of concerns are emerging in the complaints being raised.

Professor Steve Field (CBE FRCP FFPH FRCGP) 

Chief Inspector of General Practice