Archived: 49 Marine Avenue Surgery

Letter from the Chief Inspector of General Practice

We carried out an announced comprehensive inspection at 49 Marine Avenue Surgery on 19 April 2016. Overall the practice is rated as good.

Our key findings were as follows:

• Staff assessed patients’ needs and delivered care in line with current evidence based guidance.
• Staff understood and fulfilled their responsibilities to raise concerns, and to report incidents and near misses.
• Feedback from patients was overwhelmingly positive and the practice achieved very high scores in the National GP Patient Survey.
• 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.
• Patients said they were able to get an appointment with a GP when they needed one, with urgent appointments 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 in place and staff felt supported by management. The practice proactively sought feedback from staff and patients, which they acted on.
• Staff throughout the practice worked well together as a team. Several staff commented that the practice was ‘like a family’ and they all looked after each other.
• The practice had achieved the Royal College of General Practitoners’ (RCGP) Practice Accreditation Award. This measured the quality of care provided to patients across 72 quality standards.

We saw an area of outstanding practice:

The National GP Patient Survey published in January 2016 showed the satisfaction scores on consultations with doctors and nurses were all above local and national averages. Results showed that 98% of respondents had confidence and trust in their GP, compared to 95% nationally. 95% of respondents said the last GP they saw was good at treating them with care and concern, compared to the national average of 89%. 100% of respondents said they had confidence and trust in the last nurse they saw, which was above the national average of 97%. The practice also scored well in relation to access; 99% (compared to 85% nationally and 86% locally) of respondents were able to get an appointment or speak to someone when necessary; and scored highly on the ease of getting through on the telephone to make an appointment (99% of patients said this was easy or very easy, compared to the national average of 83% and a CCG average of 81%).

However, there were also areas of practice where the provider needs to make improvements.

The provider should:

• Carry out a risk assessment to determine which medicines are necessary to hold, to ensure staff can manage medical emergencies.

• Take action to ensure actual temperatures on refrigerators used to store vaccines are recorded every working day.

Professor Steve Field CBE FRCP FFPH FRCGP 

Chief Inspector of General Practice