Archived: Second Street Surgery

Letter from the Chief Inspector of General Practice

We carried out an announced comprehensive inspection of Second Street Surgery on 15 September 2016. 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. All opportunities for learning from internal and external incidents were maximised.
• 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.
• Feedback from patients about their care was consistently positive and results of the National GP Patient Survey in relation to this were higher than local and national averages. Patients reported that they were treated with compassion, dignity and respect. Patient feedback in relation to access was comparable with local clinical commissioning group and national averages.
• Patients were able to access same day appointments. Pre-bookable appointments were available within acceptable timescales.
• 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 implemented suggestions for improvement and made changes to the way they delivered services in response to feedback.
• The practice used the Quality and Outcomes Framework (QOF) as one method of monitoring effectiveness and had achieved an overall result which was higher than local and national averages.
• Information about services and how to complain was available and easy to understand.
• The practice had a clear vision in which quality and safety was prioritised. The strategy to deliver this vision was regularly discussed and reviewed.

We saw some areas of outstanding practice:

• The practice participated in a telephone support service scheme to ensure vulnerable and other relevant patients were able to access regular support to help them make positive changes in their lives. This was a voluntary service created as part of an informal arrangement with three other practices in the area and with financial support from a local charity and enabled patients referred to the service to receive weekly telephone or skype calls for up to 12 weeks to offer support on issues such as isolation and loneliness

• The practice had identified a member of staff as a primary care navigator to ensure there was a holistic approach to ensuring a patient’s medical and social needs were met and patients discharged from hospital were well supported. This included ensuring relevant patients were signposted to appropriate support services such as a befriending service, or practice telephone support service.
• The practice identified carers and ensured they were offered an annual health check and influenza vaccination and signposted to appropriate advice and support services. The practice had worked with a local carer’s charity to aid the identification of their young carers. They were able to demonstrate that they were the highest Carer Pathway referrer in the Gateshead area for the period April 2015 to September 2015.

However, there were also areas where the provider should make improvements. Importantly, the provider should:

• Continue to promote and seek membership for a patient participation group.
• Regularly review the length of time patients wait to be called in for their appointments
• Ensure the cord mechanisms on vertical blinds in communal and clinical areas are tethered to prevent the risk of accidental choking for young children.

Professor Steve Field (CBE FRCP FFPH FRCGP) 

Chief Inspector of General Practice