Letter from the Chief Inspector of General Practice
We carried out an announced comprehensive inspection at Dr Laurence Howard Sherman on 6 December 2016. Overall the practice is now rated as good.
The practice had been previously inspected on 19 May 2015. Following that inspection the practice was rated overall requires improvement with the following domain ratings:
Safe – Requires improvement
Effective – Good
Caring – Good
Responsive – Good
Well-led – Requires improvement
Two requirement notices were issued as the practice was not meeting the legislation in place at that time for the following:
- Regulation 12 Health & Social Care Act 2008 (Regulated Activities) Regulations 2014: Safe care and treatment
- Regulation 13 Health & Social Care Act 2008 (Regulated Activities) Regulations 2014: Safeguarding service users from abuse and improper treatment.
Following this re-inspection on 6 December 2016, our key findings across all the areas we inspected were as follows:
- There was an open and transparent approach to safety and a system in place for reporting and recording significant events.
- Risks to patients were assessed and well managed.
- 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.
- 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.
The areas where the provider should make improvements are:
- The practice should ensure they have access to a defibrillator on the premises and oxygen with adult and children’s masks. However at this inspection we saw evidence that the practice already had submitted plans to procure these items as a matter of urgency.
We saw one area of outstanding practice:
- The practice had achieved the best results for the uptake of seasonal influenza vaccine in the local Clinical Commissioning Group area for 2015/16. The GP not only delivered the programme in the surgery but also made numerous home visits to ensure that their eligible patient population had the opportunity to receive the vaccine in a timely manner. As a result of this the GP was invited by Public Health Bury to attend the Seasonal Flu Group to share good practice with other colleagues.
Professor Steve Field (CBE FRCP FFPH FRCGP)
Chief Inspector of General Practice