Letter from the Chief Inspector of General Practice
This practice is rated as good overall. (Previous inspection February 2017 – Good)
The key questions are rated as:
Are services effective? – Good
We carried out an announced comprehensive inspection at Dr Burke and Partners on 17 May 2016. The practice was rated as requires improvement for providing effective services. The overall rating for the practice was good. The full comprehensive report on the May 2016 inspection can be found by selecting the ‘all reports’ link for Dr Burke and Partners on our website at www.cqc.org.uk.
We carried out a desk-based review on 20 February 2017 to confirm that the practice had carried out their plan to meet the legal requirements in relation to the breaches in regulations that we identified in our previous inspection on 17 May 2016. The practice remained as requires improvement for effective services.
This inspection was a further desk-based review carried out on 8 November 2017 to confirm that the practice had carried out their plan to meet the legal requirements in relation to the breaches in regulations that we identified in our previous comprehensive inspection on 17 May 2016 and the desk-based review on 20 February 2017. This report covers our findings in relation to those requirements and also additional improvements made since our last inspection.
Overall the practice is now rated as good.
Our key findings were as follows;
- Patients that do not attend their bowel or breast screening were followed up by the practice. Recall letters were being sent to patients highlighting the importance of attending these clinics and also providing patients with links to further information. The practice told us GPs and nurses were also actively advising patients during consultations.
- The practice had reviewed their diabetes care for patients. The GP and nurse leads have undertaken further enhanced skills in a Year of Care plan for diabetic patients. Data for 2016/17 showed that the practice has made progress and had improved all diabetes indicators, although they were still achieving below local and national averages.
- The practice had reviewed care planning systems for patients with a diagnosed mental health condition. Practice nurses had completed further training to carry out health checks for patients with mental health conditions to support the GPs. They had improved on completed care plans from 84.7% in 2015/16 to 98.7% in 2016/17.
- The practice had appointed a Clinical Pharmacist. This had enabled the repeat prescription process to be streamlined and the practice provided us with their latest figures for medicine reviews which show improvements in the number of reviews being completed within 12 months.
- The practice had introduced a comprehensive risk assessment form and system at the university practice site which enabled them to carry out an initial assessment of the patient and prioritise the urgency of the patient’s health needs accordingly. Patients were also informed of waiting times and given a choice to come back for their appointment depending on the urgency.
At our previous inspection on 20 February 2017, we rated the practice as requires improvement for providing effective services as patient uptake of the national screening programme, mental health care plans and diabetes care were all below local and national averages. At this inspection we found that the data showed improvements in many areas and that improved systems and processes were in place. Consequently, the practice has been rated as good for providing effective services.
However, the areas where the provider should continue making improvements are;
- Continue to actively encourage patients to attend for health screening through the national screening programs and improve uptake rates.
- Continue to review and improve on diabetes care indicators for patients.
Professor Steve Field (CBE FRCP FFPH FRCGP)
Chief Inspector of General Practice