Archived: Greenside Surgery

We carried out an announced comprehensive inspection at Crawcrook Medical Centre on 3 March 2016. Overall the practice is rated as requires improvement.

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.
• Risks to patients were assessed and well managed.
• The practice carried out clinical audit activity and were able to demonstrate improvements to patient care as a result of this.
• The majority of patients said they were treated with compassion, dignity and respect.
• Same day emergency appointments were usually available.
• The practice had a number of policies and procedures to govern activity, which were reviewed and updated regularly
• The practice had proactively sought feedback from patients and had an active patient participation group.
• Information about services and how to complain was available and easy to understand.
• The practice was aware of patient dissatisfaction in respect of the appointment system and access to appointments but were taking steps to try and improve.

However there were areas of practice where the provider needs to make improvements.

Importantly, the provider must:

• Ensure the nursing staff are given the opportunity of an annual appraisal
• Ensure that there is a risk assessment in place detailing why it is not felt to be necessary to have a defibrillator or oxygen at the branch surgery.

The provider should also:

• Continue to monitor appointment availability and the effectiveness of the appointment system
• Satisfy themselves that all staff have received the appropriate level of safeguarding training
• Revise their policy to ensure that disposable privacy curtains are replaced every six months or sooner if visibly stained or dirty
• Continue with their plans to change and improve the culture of the practice

Professor Steve Field CBE FRCP FFPH FRCGP

Chief Inspector of General Practice