We carried out an announced focused inspection at Stable Fold Surgery on 21 April 2023. Overall, the practice is rated good.
Safe - not inspected, rating of good carried forward from previous inspection
Effective - not inspected, rating of good carried forward from previous inspection
Caring - not inspected, rating of good carried forward from previous inspection
Responsive - requires improvement
Well-led - not inspected, rating of good carried forward from previous inspection
The overall rating for this practice is Good. At our previous inspection on 31 January 2020 the practice was rated requires improvement for providing a responsive service. This was in the main due to significantly lower than average national GP survey results in relation to ‘how easy it was to get through to someone at their GP practice on the phone’. The practice was also rated as requires improvement in effective for people with long term conditions due to the lower than average outcomes for people with long term conditions.
We completed a desktop review focused on responseive and effective on 19 May 2021. The desktop review confirmed some improvements had been made in relation to people with long term conditions, which was rated as good, however improvements still needed to be made to how people are able to contact the practice by telephone.
At this inspection on 21 April 2023, we found that the national GP survey results, in relation to ‘how easy it was to get through to someone at their GP practice on the phone’ were still significantly lower than average. Since this data was collected the practice has installed a new phone system to improve access for patients.
The full reports for previous inspections can be found by selecting the ‘all reports’ link for Stable Fold Surgery on our website at www.cqc.org.uk
Why we carried out this inspection
We carried out this inspection to follow up concerns from a previous inspection. The review focused on the responsive key question.
How we carried out the inspection
This inspection was carried out as a desktop review, we did not visit the location.
This included:
- Conducting staff interviews using video conferencing.
- Requesting evidence from the provider.
Our findings
We based our judgement of the quality of care at this service on a combination of:
- what we found when we inspected
- information from our ongoing monitoring of data about services and
- information from the provider, patients, the public and other organisations.
We found that:
- Patients could not always access care and treatment in a timely way.
Whilst we found no breaches of regulations, the provider should:
- Apply to deliver the Regulated Activity of maternity and midwifery services without delay
- Take action to evaluate the impact of the new phone system on patient experience.
- Follow the complaints policy for all complaints.
Details of our findings and the evidence supporting our ratings are set out in the evidence tables.
Dr Sean O’Kelly BSc MB ChB MSc DCH FRCA
Chief Inspector of Healthcare