Archived: The Old Church Surgery

We carried out an announced comprehensive inspection at The Old Church Surgery on 8 October 2015. Overall the practice is rated as good.

Please note that when referring to information throughout this report, for example any reference to the Quality and Outcomes Framework data, this relates to the most recent information available to the CQC at that time.

Our key findings across all the areas we inspected 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.
• 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 was provided to help patients understand the care available to them.
• Risks to patients were assessed and well managed.
• The practice worked closely with other organisations and the local community in planning how services were provided to ensure that they meet people’s needs.
• The practice implemented suggestions for improvements and made changes to the way that it delivered services as a consequence of feedback from patients and from the Patient Participation Group.
• The practice had good facilities and was well equipped to treat patients and meet their needs.
• Information about how to complain was available and easy to understand.
• The practice had a clear vision, which had quality and safety as a top priority. A business continuity plan was in place, was monitored and regularly reviewed and discussed with all staff. High standards were promoted and owned by all practice staff with evidence of team working across all roles.
• There was a clear leadership structure and staff felt supported by management.
• There was a system in place to reduce risks to patient safety for example, infection control procedures.
• The practice made good use of audits and had shared information from their audits with other practices to promote better patient outcomes.

We saw one area of outstanding practice:

The practice had a strong focus on Carers and increased its number of Carers from five to thirty five by working alongside Waltham Forest Carers to develop a Carers Pack and template, which has been adopted by local practices.

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

Importantly the provider should:

• Ensure that a face to face patient participation group is set up and regular meetings held rather than just a virtual group to enable a wider range of patients to become involved.

Letter from the Chief Inspector of General Practice

Professor Steve Field (CBE FRCP FFPH FRCGP) 

Chief Inspector of General Practice