Letter from the Chief Inspector of General Practice

We carried out an announced comprehensive inspection at 9.00am on 15 September 2015. Overall the practice is rated as outstanding.

Please note that when referring to information throughout this report, for example any reference to the Quality and Outcomes Framework data, this relates to the most recent information available to the CQC at that time.

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

• Staff understood and fulfilled their responsibilities to raise concerns and report incidents and near misses. All opportunities for learning from internal and external incidents were maximised.

• The practice used innovative and proactive methods to improve patient outcomes, working with other local providers to share best practice. For example, the practice had teamed up with a social enterprise to tackle immediate health and social issues affecting Muslim communities such as mental health.

• Patients said they were treated with compassion, dignity and respect and they were involved in their care and decisions about their treatment. Information was provided to help patients understand the care available to them.

• The practice worked closely with other organisations and with the local community in planning how services were provided to ensure that they meet people’s needs.

• The practice implemented suggestions for improvements and made changes to the way it delivered services as a consequence of feedback from patients and from the Patient Participation Group (PPG).

• The practice had good facilities and was well equipped to treat patients and meet their needs. Information about how to complain was available and easy to understand.

• The practice had a clear vision which had quality and safety as its top priority. A business plan was in place, was monitored and regularly reviewed and discussed with all staff. High standards were promoted and owned by all practice staff with evidence of team working across all roles.

We saw several areas of outstanding practice including:

• The practice had a daily ‘frontline’ GP who provided both telephone / email consultations, urgent prescriptions and a triage service. The practice said this provided expert care at the point of contact. This had reduced the need for patients to have an appointment with a GP.

• The chief executive sent all staff a weekly ‘staff matters’ bulletin by email. This provided them with any information about the practice including clinical updates, staffing matters, training opportunities and any changes within the practice group.

• The provider had developed two training packages. One for clinicians, which entailed fortnightly consultant-led training for GPs via webinars in a collaborative learning environment designed to enhance clinical knowledge and delivering excellent patient services and another for receptionists training as Healthcare Assistants (HCAs). The training was used by other local practices.

• The practice had maximised their Quality and Outcomes Framework (QOF) performance over the previous six years and flu vaccination rates for over 65s and at risk groups were consistently above the Clinical Commissioning Group (CCG) for the previous five years.

• The practice had teamed up with a social enterprise to tackle immediate health and social issues affecting Muslim communities such as mental health. They had co-produced a short film with patients, clinicians and faith groups called “Talking from the heart” exploring mental health diagnosis and therapy by combining medical and faith advice.

Professor Steve Field (CBE FRCP FFPH FRCGP) 

Chief Inspector of General Practice