Letter from the Chief Inspector of General Practice
The practice was previously inspected on 2 February 2015 and the overall rating was Requires improvement.
We carried out an announced comprehensive inspection at South Axholme Practice on 18 August 2016. Overall the practice is now rated as good.
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. However, when things went wrong, the learning from reviews and investigations was not always embedded.
• Risks to patients were not always assessed and well managed. There was no documented evidence of national patient safety alerts having been actioned.
• Staff had been trained to provide them with the skills, knowledge and experience to deliver effective care and treatment.
• 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. Some improvements were made to the quality of care as a result of complaints and concerns but these were not shared with all staff and embedded.
• Patients said access to a named GP and continuity of care was not always available quickly, although urgent appointments were usually 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.
• The provider was aware of and complied with the requirements of the duty of candour.
• The practice had policies and procedures in place. However, we found some procedures were not always followed in terms of the recruitment of staff and the management of some medicines.
The areas where the provider must make improvements are:
• Ensure arrangements are in place for the safe management of some medicines.
• Ensure recruitment arrangements include obtaining two references for all staff.
The areas where the provider should make improvement are:
• Check that measures introduced following incidents are maintained and evaluated for effectiveness.
• Review the frequency of basic life support training to ensure it follows best practice guidelines as laid down by the Resuscitation Council (UK).
• Ensure action is taken to proactively identify carers registered at the practice.
• Review the arrangements in place for the safe management of sterile equipment.
Professor Steve Field (CBE FRCP FFPH FRCGP)
Chief Inspector of General Practice