We previously carried out an announced comprehensive inspection at Dawley Medical Practice in October 2018. The practice was rated as requires improvement overall. Breaches of legal requirements were found, and a requirement notice was served in relation to good governance and safe care and treatment. The full comprehensive report on the 15 October 2018 can be found by selecting ‘all reports’ link for Dawley Medical Practice on our website at .
At the last inspection in October 2018, we rated the practice as requires improvement for providing safe, responsive and well led services. This was because:
- The systems for monitoring patients on medicines requiring monitoring was reactive.
- Patient safety alerts from the Medicines and Healthcare Products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) were not always acted on.
- The practice had not carried out a risk assessment to reflect the emergency medicines required in the practice for the range of treatments offered and the conditions treated.
- The practice had not carried out a risk assessment to reflect the decision not to carry emergency medicines in doctors’ bags.
- The practice had not carried out a risk assessment for the need for staff who also acted as chaperones to have a DBS check.
- Whilst the practice had responded to patient feedback, further work was needed to improve patient satisfaction in relation to access to care and treatment. Some patients felt that there were unacceptable waiting times and delays in getting to see a GP and that the appointment system needed further review.
- The national GP patient survey results (2018) for the practice were below local and national averages for questions relating to access to care and treatment.
- The practice did not review trends from complaints.
- Governance arrangements were not always operated effectively.
- There was not always a clear and effective process for managing risk.
At this announced comprehensive inspection carried out on the 10 June 2019, we found that the provider had addressed most of these areas, but further work was required to improve patient satisfaction in relation to access to the service.
We have rated this practice as good overall, with requires improvement in providing a responsive service.
We have rated the practice as requires improvement for providing responsive service because:
- Patient satisfaction in relation to access remained mixed and some patients spoken with felt the waiting times and delays in getting to see a GP remained unsatisfactory. There was a pattern of complaints relating to access to the service and availability of appointments.
We have rated the practice as good for providing safe, effective, caring and well led services because:
- The practice had clear systems, practices and processes to keep people safe and safeguarded from abuse.
- There were adequate systems to assess, monitor and manage risks to patient safety.
- Patients received effective care and treatment that met their needs.
- Staff dealt with patients with kindness and respect and involved them in decisions about their care.
- The way the practice was led and managed promoted the delivery of high-quality, person-centre care.
Whilst we found no breaches of regulations, the provider should:
- Ensure contact numbers for referring safeguarding concerns are readily accessible to staff.
- Ensure contact numbers for key services form part of the business continuity plan.
- Ensure that the practice’s risk assessment relating to the stock of emergency medicines clearly identifies the medicines not deemed necessary for stock.
- Further respond to patient feedback to improve their satisfaction with the appointment system and other identified areas of improvement within the practice’s own surveys and the national GP patients survey.
Details of our findings and the evidence supporting our ratings are set out in the evidence tables.
Dr Rosie Benneyworth BM BS BMedSci MRCGP
Chief Inspector of Primary Medical Services and Integrated Care