Archived: Bishopston Medical Practice - Nevil Road

Letter from the Chief Inspector of General Practice

We carried out an announced comprehensive inspection at Bishopston Medical Practice- Nevil Road on 6 August 2015. Specifically, we found the practice to be good for providing safe, well led, effective, caring and responsive services. It was also rated as good for providing services for all of the population groups.

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

• Staff understood and fulfilled their responsibilities to raise concerns, and to report incidents and near misses. Information about safety was recorded, monitored, appropriately reviewed and addressed.
• Risks to patients were assessed and well managed.
• Patients’ needs were assessed and care was planned and delivered following best practice guidance. Staff had received training appropriate to their roles and any further training needs had been identified and planned.

• 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 found it easy to make an appointment with a named GP and that there was continuity of care, 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 and staff felt supported by management. The practice proactively sought feedback from staff and patients, which it acted on.
• There was a good focus on developing the facilities and services provided to patients by involvement in pilot schemes to improve the outcomes for patients.

We saw areas of outstanding practice including:

• The practice funded a care coordinator who contacted all patients after they had been discharged from hospital to make sure they had adequate support and to provide information for services.
• As part of their service development for older people the practice had allocated time for a member of staff to act as a community resource lead and actively contact older patients and signpost them to community support services.

Professor Steve Field (CBE FRCP FFPH FRCGP) 

Chief Inspector of General Practice