Letter from the Chief Inspector of General Practice
We carried out an announced comprehensive inspection at The Orchard Practice on 12 May 2015. Overall the practice is rated as good.
Specifically, we found the practice to be good for providing safe, effective, caring, responsive and well-led services. It was outstanding for providing services for patients with long term conditions and good for all the population groups including older people; mothers, babies, children and young people; the working age populations and those recently retired; people in vulnerable circumstances and people experiencing poor mental health.
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.
- Risks to patients were assessed and well managed.
- 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 about services and how to complain was available and easy to understand.
- Patients said they found it easy to make an appointment with a named GP and that there was continuity of care, with urgent appointments 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.
We saw several areas of outstanding practice including:
- The practice had implemented a monthly audiology clinic for hearing aid users (registered and non-registered patients) to have their hearing aids serviced and repaired. This helped local patients avoid long bus trips to the hospital.
- The healthcare assistant responsible for smoking cessation had won a CCG award for their work in smoking cessation and for two years running the practice had the second highest quit rate in the CCG.
Professor Steve Field (CBE FRCP FFPH FRCGP)
Chief Inspector of General Practice