Archived: Brewood Surgery Also known as Brewood Medical Practice

Letter from the Chief Inspector of General Practice

We carried out an announced comprehensive inspection at Brewood Surgery, the main branch on 12 March 2015. The other two branches were not inspected as part of this visit. Overall Brewood Surgery is rated as good.

Specifically, we found the practice to be good for providing safe, effective, caring, responsive and well-led services. It was also good for providing services for older people, people with long term conditions, families, children and young people, working age people (including those recently retired and students), people whose circumstances make them vulnerable. It was outstanding in areas for people experiencing poor mental health (including people with dementia).

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. However although information about safety was reported monitored and reviewed, records to demonstrate how they were addressed were not consistently recorded.
• Risks to patients were assessed and well managed with the exception of areas related to infection control and checking of equipment.
• 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. However verbal complaints were not recorded and monitored.
• 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.

We saw one area of outstanding practice:

• The practice had developed and implemented a dementia care management plan. Patients had a dedicated one hour consultation with a GP and had their clinical assessments and screening carried out by the same group of staff which ensured continuity in the staff that they saw.

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

Action the provider SHOULD take to improve:

• Maintain consistent records to clearly demonstrate the discussions and actions taken to address and review safety incidents.
• Review toilet facilities to ensure that they are clean and that paper towels and suitable bins are provided.
• Review the systems in place for checking emergency equipment.
• Implement systems to record and monitor verbal complaints.

Professor Steve Field (CBE FRCP FFPH FRCGP) 

Chief Inspector of General Practice