Archived: Lisle Court Medical Centre

Letter from the Chief Inspector of General Practice

We previously carried out an announced comprehensive inspection at Lisle Court Medical Centre on 14 July 2016. As a result of our inspection the practice was rated as requires improvement in safe, caring and well-led with good in effective and responsive; with an overall rating for the practice of requires improvement. The full comprehensive report on the April 2016 inspection can be found by selecting the ‘all reports’ link for Lisle Court Medical Centre on our website at www.cqc.org.uk.

This inspection was an announced comprehensive inspection carried out on 21 September 2017 to confirm that the practice had carried out their plan to address the areas requiring improvement that we identified in our inspection in July 2016. This report covers our findings in relation to the requirements and improvements made since our last inspection.

We found the practice had carried out a detailed analysis of the previous inspection findings and taken action to address areas where improvements were needed. The practice had made extensive changes which had resulted in significant improvements. Practice staff had taken responsibility for embedding and maintaining these improvements themselves and we saw a positive approach to performance and improvement throughout.

Our key findings across all the areas we inspected were as follows:

• Staff knew how to document significant events and escalate concerns. There was a system for dealing with incidents and learning was shared with staff at team meetings. Records showed that changes implemented when lessons were learned were kept under regular review to ensure that these had been fully embedded.
• Risks to patients were assessed and well managed. The system for recording and monitoring GP training had been improved and showed that training in infection control and fire safety was up to date.
• Data showed patient outcomes were rated in line with the local and national averages. A programme of continuous audit evidenced improvement to patient outcomes.
• Although the National GP Patient Survey results published in July 2017 showed that overall patients’ experience of the practice and the satisfaction scores were lower than local and national averages, there had been improvements in some areas.
• The practice had a diverse population with a large number of Punjabi speaking patients. An interpreter was employed to accommodate this group and conducted approximately one third of consultations in languages other than English.
• Policies were specific to the practice and easily accessible to all staff.
• The management of medicines and emergency equipment had been improved with revised procedures which were regularly monitored to ensure they were followed.
• The process for updating Patient Group Directions (PGDs) had been revised and ensured that PDGs were signed before they were acted upon.
• The practice monitored and encouraged uptake of childhood immunisations to improve health outcomes. Unpublished data showed results had increased and were now in line with local and national averages.
• The practice encouraged its patients to attend national screening programmes for bowel and breast cancer screening, but uptake for both was lower than local and national averages. Staff followed an established recall protocol to encourage patients to take up screening opportunities.

There were some areas where improvements should be made:

• Continue to encourage patients to engage in screening programmes.
• Take action to improve patient satisfaction particularly in the area of GP/patient interaction.

The practice is now rated as good for providing safe, effective, caring, responsive services, and for being well-led. The overall rating for the practice is now good.

Professor Steve Field (CBE FRCP FFPH FRCGP) 

Chief Inspector of General Practice