15 September 2015
During a routine inspection
Letter from the Chief Inspector of General Practice
We carried out an announced comprehensive inspection at West Bank Medical Centre on 15 September 2015. Overall the practice is rated as good.
Specifically, we found the practice to be good for providing safe, well-led, effective, caring and responsive services. It was also good for providing services for all the population groups it serves.
Our key findings across all the areas we inspected were as follows:
- Good systems were in place to ensure incidents and significant events were identified, investigated and reported. Staff understood and fulfilled their responsibilities to raise concerns and to report incidents. Information about safety was recorded, monitored, appropriately reviewed and addressed.
- Patients’ needs were assessed and care was planned and delivered in line with best practice guidance. Staff had received training appropriate for their roles and any further training needs had been identified and planned.
- Patients spoke very positively about the practice and its staff. They said they were treated with compassion, dignity and respect and were involved in their care and decisions about their treatment.
- Information about services and how to complain was available, in different languages and easy to understand for the local population.
- Patients said they found it easy to make an appointment with a named GP and that there was continuity of care. Urgent appointments were available on the same day.
- 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.
Professor Steve Field (CBE FRCP FFPH FRCGP)
Chief Inspector of General Practice