Letter from the Chief Inspector of General Practice
East Quay Medical Centre is a suburban practice providing primary care services to patients resident in Bridgwater, Somerset. The practice has a patient population of approximately 14600. Before visiting, we reviewed a range of information we held about the practice and asked other organisations to share what they knew. This included the Somerset Clinical Commissioning Group (CCG), NHS England and Healthwatch.
We undertook a comprehensive announced inspection on 11 November 2014. Our inspection team was led by a Care Quality Commission (CQC) Lead Inspector, an expert by experience and a GP specialist advisor.
Overall the practice is rated as good. Specifically, we found the practice to be good for providing well-led, safe, effective, caring and responsive services. It was also good for providing services for all of the population groups.
Our key findings were as follows:
- Patients were able to get an appointment when they needed it.
- Staff were caring and treated patients with kindness and respect.
- Staff explained and involved patients in treatment decisions
- Patients were cared for in an environment which was clean and reflected good infection control practices.
- Patients were protected from the risks of unsafe medicine management procedures.
- The practice had the appropriate equipment, medicines and procedures to manage foreseeable patient emergencies.
- The practice met nationally recognised quality standards for improving patient care and maintaining quality.
- The practice had systems to identify, monitor and evaluate risks to patients.
- Patients were treated by suitably qualified staff.
- GPs and nursing staff followed national guidance in the care and treatment provided.
We saw several areas of outstanding practice including:
- The practice employed specific staff to coordinate referrals and out patient appointments on behalf of the practice to benefit their patients. Patients gave us examples of the practice operating beyond their contractual obligations, for example, contacting hospital transport on behalf of patients and coordinating hospital appointments for patients.
- Information had been produced in an accessible format for patients with learning disabilities.
- The practice had an internal intranet system which was accessible by all staff which listed the operating policies and protocols for the practice.
Professor Steve Field CBE FRCP FFPH FRCGP
Chief Inspector of General Practice