South King Street Medical Centre Also known as The Medical Centre

Letter from the Chief Inspector of General Practice

This is a focused desk top review of evidence supplied by Dr E. Bonsell and Partners for one area within the key question safe.

We found the practice to be good in providing safe services. Overall, the practice is rated as good.

The practice was previously inspected on 27 April 2016. The inspection was a comprehensive inspection under the Health and Social Care Act 2008. At that inspection, the practice was rated good overall. However, within the key question safe, staffing was identified as requires improvement, as the practice was not meeting the legislation at that time; Regulation 18 HSCA (RA) Regulations 2014 Staffing.

• The practice clinical deputy safeguarding lead was trained to child protection or child safeguarding level three and all non-clinical staff to level one which was appropriate for their role. However, GPs were trained to level one instead of level three and nurses to level one instead of level two.

The practice has submitted to CQC, a range of documents which demonstrate they are now meeting the requirements of Regulation 18 of the Health and Social Care Act 2008 (Regulated Activities) Regulations 2014.

Professor Steve Field (CBE FRCP FFPH FRCGP) 

Chief Inspector of General Practice

Letter from the Chief Inspector of General Practice

We carried out an announced comprehensive inspection at Dr E. Bonsell and Partners Practice on 27 April 2016. Overall the practice is rated as good.

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

• There was an open and transparent approach to safety and an effective system in place for reporting and recording significant events.
• Staff assessed patients’ needs and delivered care in line with current evidence based guidance. Staff had been trained to provide them with the skills, knowledge and experience to deliver effective care and treatment.
• The practice had been awarded a certificate by the local hospice for its long service support for the hospice patients and their families.
• 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. Improvements were made to the quality of care as a result of complaints and concerns.
• Patients said they found it easy to make an appointment with a named GP and 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.
• The provider was aware of and complied with the requirements of the duty of candour.

We saw three areas of outstanding practice:

• The practice had purchased several blood pressure monitors and TENS machines which could be loaned to patients (a TENS machine is a small, portable device which can help to ease pain in some people with certain types of pain). Patients could therefore see whether these devices were effective before they bought them for themselves.
• The practice had developed Skype facilities for patients to consult with a GP (Skype is an application that provides video and voice call services). Although there were only a few patients who used this service, the practice was consulted by other practices and CCGs nationally on its use.
• The practice had developed its own personalised bereavement card and leaflet that gave information to relatives on services available locally and advice on dealing with bereavement. This included advice on managing different behaviours in both adults and children.

The areas where the provider must make improvement are:

• Ensure that all clinical staff are trained to the recommended level for child protection or child safeguarding.

The areas where the provider should make improvement are:

• Ensure that all emergency medication and equipment is stored in one location for easy and rapid access in the event of an emergency.
• Document actions taken as a result of infection prevention and control audits.
• Produce an overall summary of staff training from individual staff training records.

Professor Steve Field (CBE FRCP FFPH FRCGP) 

Chief Inspector of General Practice