Woodlands & Clerklands Partnership

Letter from the Chief Inspector of General Practice

We carried out an announced comprehensive inspection at the Woodlands and Clerklands Partnership on 19 April 2016. Overall the practice is rated as good.

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

• There was an open and transparent approach to safety and an effective 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. Results from the GP patient survey showed patients’ satisfaction with access to care was better than national averages.
• The practice had good facilities and was well equipped to treat patients and meet their needs.
• The practice offered a wide range of clinics including those due to the specialist interests of GPs and nurses. For example, on site vasectomy, epilepsy reviews and a specialist treatment for a type of benign vertigo (dizziness). They also offered a walk-in blood test clinic twice per week.
• 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.
• There was a strong focus on education and shared learning throughout the practice.
• The provider was aware of and complied with the requirements of the duty of candour.

We saw areas of outstanding practice:

• The practice had an ethos of education and had designed a competency framework for the patient services team, to provide a standard process for staff to achieve and progress within their role. The framework included key competencies that should be achieved within the first year, and then onward progression towards additional tasks that carried an upscale in pay. Appraisals were used to monitor achievements and work with staff to develop their skills. Staff we spoke to within this role told us they enjoyed the opportunities at the practice and the flexibility to choose training in different aspects of the role.

• The practice had high levels of staff satisfaction. Staff were proud of the organisation as a place to work and spoke highly of the culture of learning and improvement. There were consistently high levels of constructive staff engagement. Staff at all levels were actively involved in identifying learning, and facilitating improvement to quality of care and patients experiences

• The partners and management had an inspired shared purpose, strive to deliver and motivated staff to succeed, including that they were actively supporting the nursing team to progress within their career.

The areas where the provider should make improvement are:

• Ensure patients who are carers and who are cared for are pro-actively identified and supported.
• Continue to ensure the care and treatment of all diabetic patients is reviewed, and ensure plans are in place to reduce the exception reporting results.

Professor Steve Field (CBE FRCP FFPH FRCGP) 

Chief Inspector of General Practice