Archived: Fiveways Medical Centre

Letter from the Chief Inspector of General Practice

We carried out an announced comprehensive inspection at Fiveways Medical Centre on 25 August 2015.

Overall the practice is rated as good.

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

• Staff were aware of procedures for reporting significant events and safeguarding patients from risk of abuse. Overall, significant events had been appropriately managed. However, we found that the actions arising from one significant event had not been followed to ensure the safe management of medications.

• There were appropriate systems in place to reduce risks to patient safety, for example, infection control procedures. Access to emergency medication and needed improvement.
• Access to the service was monitored to ensure it met the needs of patients. Patients reported satisfaction with opening hours and ease of making appointments.
• A number of sessional GPs (locum or self-employed) were supporting the practice which did not promote continuity of care for patients. Patient experiences of seeing or speaking to a preferred GP were less than local and national averages (National Patient Survey July 2015). A GP who would be regularly based at the practice was due to begin work in October 2015 which would address this.
• The practice sought patient views about improvements that could be made to the service and acted on patient feedback. Information about how to complain was available.
• Patients were overall positive about the care they received from the practice. They commented that they were treated with respect and dignity and that staff were caring, supportive and helpful.
• Patients’ needs were assessed and care was planned and delivered following best practice guidance. Staff had received training appropriate to their roles.
• Services were planned and delivered to take into account the needs of different patient groups.
• There were systems in place to monitor and improve quality and identify risk.

There were areas where the provider must make improvements:

• Improvements need to be made to access to medications required in the event of an emergency.

There were areas where the provider should make improvements.

Importantly the provider should:

• Ensure that actions arising from significant events are closely monitored to ensure they are being followed through.
• Make improvements to the continuity of GPs employed at the practice to promote effective communication between clinical staff and continuity of care for patients.
• Ensure that a contact person for GPs to approach for support around clinical issues or safety incidents is clearly available for staff to refer to.
• Ensure that the practice website contains sufficient health promotion information for patients.

Professor Steve Field (CBE FRCP FFPH FRCGP) 

Chief Inspector of General Practice