General Medical Practice (GP) Inspections Annual Report 2016-17

This is our third annual report relating  to the work we have done inspecting General medical Practices in Wales. 

The  purpose of this report is to summarise the findings from our inspections during the last year and to highlight areas for improvement and areas of good practice we have identified across services. 

We inspected 27 GP practices during 2016-17 and explored how each practice met the standards of care set out in  the Health and Care Standards. 

What we found

• GP  practices working hard to provide safe and effective care
• Practices working hard to meet the demand for appointments
• Practices had systems in place to try and ensure continuity of care for patients when they were being seen by difference members of the team
• Practices making sure that test results and other correspondence received about their patients were acted upon promptly and incorporated into patients records as quickly as possible
• Practices were keen to develop their staff and invested in additional training as appropriate

What practices could improve

• Practices need to ensure that their appointment systems are accessible as possible to patients who have additional needs
• Practices need to be aware of and ensure they are fulfilling their obligations and Health and Safety law
• Practices must make sure that their policies and procedures are up to date so that staff can be accurately guided in their duties