Archived: The Vesey Practice

Letter from the Chief Inspector of General Practice

We carried out an announced comprehensive inspection at The Vesey Practice on 27 September 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.
• In most cases risks to patients were assessed and well managed although there were some issues with the premises.
• 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.
• The practice worked effectively in collaboration with other services to help meet patients needs.
• Information about services and how to complain was available and easy to understand.
• Patients generally found it easy to make an appointment although found getting through on the telephone sometimes difficult. The practice had taken action to try and improve this. Urgent appointments were 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 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.

We saw an area of outstanding practice:

• The practice was proactive in providing support to patients who had been through cancer treatment. Patients were offered an end of treatment review with a trained nurse. The practice had offered 17 patients the opportunity of a review and eight patients had received one between February and August 2016. One of the GP partners was a Macmillan GP aimed at improving cancer care. They had supported in the development of practice nurse cancer courses.

The areas where the provider should make improvement are:

• Liaise with NHS property services to resolve issues relating to the cleaners room and fire equipment servicing.
• Review newly implemented systems for managing prescription safety to ensure they are working as intended.
• Review systems in place to ensure important information is shared with all staff in the practice.

Professor Steve Field (CBE FRCP FFPH FRCGP) 

Chief Inspector of General Practice