Letter from the Chief Inspector of General Practice
We carried out a comprehensive inspection of Ampleforth Surgery on 3 November 2014. We inspected the main surgery at Back Lane, Ampleforth and also visited the branch surgery at Hovingham to look at the dispensary.
We rated the practice overall as good.
Our key findings were as follows:
• The practice provided services to a large geographical and rural area, the services had been designed to meet the needs of the local population.
• Feedback from patients was overwhelmingly positive, they told us staff treated them with respect and kindness.
• Staff reported feeling supported and able to voice any concerns or make suggestions for improvement.
We saw several areas of good practice including:
• A patient centred approach to delivering care and treatment. All staff were aware of and sympathetic to, the particular difficulties faced by the local population living in a rural location.
• The practice had developed daily input into a large local boarding school in the area and provided good responsive care.
• The practice actively sought the opinions of staff and patients, working with a well established patient participation group (PPG) to address and improve patient care experience. The practice and PPG had been successful in developing a volunteer car service transporting patients without transport to and from their appointments at the surgery and hospital.
However, there was also an area of practice where the practice needed to make improvements.
The practice must:
• Improve the checking and signing of prescriptions by GPs before medicines are dispensed and
issued to patients. They must also improve arrangements for checking the expiry dates of medicines to ensure they are safe to use.
Professor Steve Field CBE FRCP FFPH FRCGP
Chief Inspector of General Practice
Professor Steve Field (CBE FRCP FFPH FRCGP)
Chief Inspector of General Practice