This practice is rated as requires improvment overall. (Previous inspection 22 July 2015 – Good)
The key questions are rated as:
Are services safe? – Requires Improvement
Are services effective? – Good
Are services caring? – Good
Are services responsive? – Good
Are services well-led? – Requires Improvement
We carried out an announced inspection at Pencester Surgery on 18 April 2018 as part of our inspection programme.
At this inspection we found:
- The practice did not have effective systems to manage risk so that safety incidents were less likely to happen.
- The practice routinely reviewed the effectiveness and appropriateness of the care it provided. It ensured that care and treatment was delivered according to evidence- based guidelines.
- Staff involved and treated patients with compassion, kindness, dignity and respect.
- Patients found the appointment system easy to use and reported that they were able to access care when they needed it.
- There was a strong focus on continuous learning and improvement at all levels of the organisation.
- The GP partners took over another surgery Dover Medical Practice, now known as Pencester Health Centre and most of the staff work across both locations.
We saw one area of outstanding practice:
- The practice collaborated with a local translation service to provide a translator at Pencester Health on a daily basis. Patients had access to the translator who provided telephone or face to face support to patients whose first language was not English. The practice had worked with other organisations to facilitate this service in response to a high need for a translation service within their practice population.
The areas where the provider must make improvements are:
- Ensure care and treatment is provided in a safe way to patients
- Establish effective systems and processes to ensure good governance in accordance with the fundamental standards of care.
The areas where the provider should make improvements are:
- Review the reception protocols to include the management of patients with sepsis symptoms.
- Review staff training to help ensure all staff members are up to date with essential training.
- Review how the family of recently bereaved patients are supported.
- Review the complaints system to include verbal complaints in order to help identify trends and change practice.
- Review findings from the GP Patient Survey and take action where necessary to help improve the patient experience.
Professor Steve Field CBE FRCP FFPH FRCGPChief Inspector of General Practice