6 October 2015
During a routine inspection
Letter from the Chief Inspector of General Practice
We carried out an announced comprehensive inspection at Falcon Medical Group on 06 October 2015. Overall the practice is 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. 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.
- Most staff had received training appropriate to their roles; however, some gaps in training were identified as part of the inspection.
- The practice was engaged with the local clinical commissioning group (CCG) and NHS England.
- Patients said they were treated with compassion, dignity and respect and they were involved in their care and decisions about their treatment. The practice worked well with the patient participation group.
- Information about services and how to complain was available and easy to understand.
- There was a daily urgent access clinic at the practice and lunchtime appointments were available each 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 the management team. The practice proactively sought feedback from staff and patients, which it acted on.
We saw one area of outstanding practice:
- The practice held a clinical team meeting each day. This meeting provided a forum for a wide range of issues, for example, acute care, complaints and practice development. The meeting supported communication and team working at the practice and facilitated effective clinical care and also ensured clinicians were not working in isolation.
However there were areas of practice where the provider needs to make improvements.
The provider should:
- Continue with the process of registration for a new registered manager at the practice.
- Review arrangement for the storage and distribution of blank computer prescription forms to take into account national guidance.
- Review their arrangements for clinical audit at the practice. Clinical audit should be clearly linked to patient outcomes and monitored for effectiveness and comprise of two cycles to monitor improvements to patient outcomes.
Professor Steve Field (CBE FRCP FFPH FRCGP)
Chief Inspector of General Practice