Woodway Medical Centre

Letter from the Chief Inspector of General Practice

We carried out an announced comprehensive inspection at Woodway Medical Centre on 20 January 2017. As a result of our inspection the practice was rated as good overall but required improvement for providing safe services. The full comprehensive report on the January 2017 inspection can be found by selecting the ‘all reports’ link for Woodway Medical Centre on our website at www.cqc.org.uk.

This inspection was a desk-based focused inspection carried out on 30 October 2017 to confirm that the practice had carried out their plan to meet the legal requirements in relation to the breach in regulations that we identified at our previous inspection on 20 January 2017. This report covers our findings in relation to those requirements.

Overall the practice is rated as good.

Our key findings were as follows:

• Staffing arrangements had been reviewed to ensure patients had adequate access to a female GP when required. The practice told us they had no current GP vacancies to enable recruitment of a female GP. They had however, promoted alternative arrangements in reception. Patients had access to a female locum GP who provided regular sessions at the practice. Female GPs were also available at other local practices for patients who expressed a preference.

• Measures had been put in place to ensure infection control audits were completed and repeated at regular intervals.

• Health and safety risk assessments for the premises had been completed with processes that ensured they were maintained.

Professor Steve Field (CBE FRCP FFPH FRCGP) 

Chief Inspector of General Practice

Letter from the Chief Inspector of General Practice

We carried out an announced comprehensive inspection at Woodway Medical Centre on 20 January 2017. Overall the practice is rated as good.

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

• The practice had an effective system for dealing with patient safety alerts. We checked a sample of recent alerts and found that the practice had taken action.
• The practice had systems and processes in place to safeguard patients from abuse.
• The practice had a system to report and record incidents and significant events. Changes were implemented to prevent incidents happening again.
• When things went wrong with care and treatment the practice took action to notify the patients involved and offer support if appropriate. Patients received a written apology within a reasonable timeframe.
• Staff accessed to up to date evidence based guidance. This information was used to deliver care and treatment that met patients’ needs.
• Performance for diabetes related Quality Outcomes Framework indicators was significantly higher than local and national averages. The GP partners explained that the practice had introduced a structured programme of diabetic care in the 1990s. Local data also showed that the practice had high performance for achieving recommended diabetes treatment standards and care processes.
• Staff demonstrated they had the knowledge and skills they needed to provide effective care and treatment, but we did see gaps in training for chaperoning and ensuring the practice nurse was up to date with safeguarding training.
• Results from the National GP Patient Survey published in July 2016 showed that the practice’s performance in patient satisfaction was above average. Patient comment cards collected in the two weeks prior to the inspection were all positive about the standard of care delivered.
• On the day of the inspection we saw that staff were friendly and helpful to patients and treated them with dignity and respect.
• Information was available to help patients understand the complaints system. There was a designated complaints lead and the practice shared details of complaints and learning points with staff to improve services.
• There were no female GPs employed by the practice. The practice did use a female locum when required, and placed a sign in reception to inform patients of the dates when the female locum would be available, but this was not a regular arrangement.
• There was a clear leadership structure and staff felt supported by management. The practice proactively sought feedback from staff and patients.
• The provider was aware of and complied with the requirements of the duty of candour.

The areas where the provider must make improvements are:

• Ensure that non-clinical staff who act as chaperones receive training for the role and are aware of their responsibilities.

In addition the provider should:

• Review staffing arrangements to ensure patients have adequate access to a female GP when required.
• Ensure infection control audits are repeated at the regular intervals.
• Ensure health and safety risk assessments for the premises are maintained.

Professor Steve Field (CBE FRCP FFPH FRCGP) 

Chief Inspector of General Practice