We carried out a review of the data available to us about Royston Group Practice on 6 July 2023. We have not found evidence that we need to carry out an inspection or reassess our rating at this stage.
This could change at any time if we receive new information. We will continue to monitor data about this service.
If you have concerns about Royston Group Practice, you can give feedback on this service.
This practice is rated as Good overall. (Previous inspection December 2014 the practice was rated overall as Good)
The key questions are rated as:
Are services safe? – Good
Are services effective? – Good
Are services caring? – Good
Are services responsive? – Good
Are services well-led? - Good
As part of our inspection process, we also look at the quality of care for specific population groups. The population groups are rated as:
Older People – Good
People with long-term conditions – Good
Families, children and young people – Good
Working age people (including those recently retired and students – Good
People whose circumstances may make them vulnerable – Good
People experiencing poor mental health (including people with dementia) - Good
We carried out an announced comprehensive inspection at Royston Group Practice on 21 November 2017. We carried out a comprehensive inspection of this service under Section 60 of the Health and Social Care Act 2008 as part of our regulatory functions. The inspection was planned to check whether the provider continues to meet the legal requirements and regulations associated with the Health and Social Care Act 2008, to look at the overall quality of the service, and to provide a rating for the service under the Care Act 2014.
At this inspection we found:
The practice had clear systems to manage risk so that safety incidents were less likely to happen. When incidents did happen, the practice learned from them and improved their processes.
The practice had systems in place to keep patients safe and safeguarded from abuse.
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.
Reception staff knew that if patients wanted to discuss sensitive issues or appeared distressed they could offer them a private room to discuss their needs.
The practice organised and delivered services to meet patients’ needs. It took account of patient needs and preferences.
The practice staff had a culture of providing high-quality sustainable care.
Patients were able to access care when they needed it.
22 responded patients in comment cards that they found the service was good and met their needs. Ten patients spoken with made positive comments about the clinical staff.
There was a strong focus on continuous learning and improvement at all levels of the organisation.
We found the practice had not monitored the vaccine fridge temperatures correctly. Staff had regularly recorded the upper limit of the fridges as above the recommended temperatures but had failed to record the reason why or the actions they had taken to make sure the vaccines were safe. Following the inspection the practice reported this to NHS England, who have investigated the incident and confirmed that the practice were now taking the correct actions. The actions the practice had taken were; nursing staff had received one to one training to ensure they understood fully how to store and manage vaccines and plan to attend a two day vaccination and immunisation training course. The provider had purchased a new fridge to avoid over stocking vaccines and external fridge monitors, to ensure each fridge had three points of recording temperatures The practice had implemented a live-stock recording on system that records every vaccine that comes into practice and who it is administered to. This also records any wastage in a more comprehensive and accurate method.
The areas where the provider should make improvements are:
The provider should consider following the Department of Health Estates and Facilities Alert Ref:EFA/2015/001 issued 26 January 2017, this recommends that the provider should secure blind cords to prevent a risk to young children.
Professor Steve Field (CBE FRCP FFPH FRCGP)
Chief Inspector of General Practice
We carried out an announced comprehensive inspection visit on 3 December 2014. The overall rating for the practice was good. Additionally, we found the practice was good in providing: safe, responsive and effective care for all of the population groups it serves.
Our key findings were as follows:
• Where incidents had been identified relating to safety, staff had been made aware of the outcome and action taken where appropriate, to keep people safe.
• All areas of the practice were visibly clean and where issues had been identified relating to infection control, action had been taken.
• Patients received care according to professional best practice clinical guidelines. The practice had regular information updates, which informed staff about new guidance to ensure they were up to date with best practice.
• The practice ensured patients received accessible, individual care, whilst respecting their needs and wishes.
• We found there were positive working relationships between staff and other healthcare professionals involved in the delivery of service.
We saw several areas of outstanding practice including:
All patients, but particularly those who worked, had access to appointments during early mornings and all day Saturday openings throughout the year. These patients could also access the GP for telephone advice if attending the practice was difficult.
Chief Inspector of General Practice