Dr Gabriel Hendow

Letter from the Chief Inspector of General Practice

We carried out an announced comprehensive inspection at Dr Gabriel Hendow on 16 June 2016. Overall the practice is rated as outstanding.

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

• There was an open and transparent approach to safety and an effective system in place for reporting and recording significant events.
• Risks to patients were assessed and well managed.
• Staff assessed patients’ needs and delivered care in line with current evidence based guidance. Staff had been trained to provide these with the skills, knowledge and experience to deliver effective care and treatment.
• Patients said they were treated with compassion, dignity and respect and they were involved in their care and decisions about their treatment. Discussions with staff and feedback from patients’ demonstrated staff were highly motivated and were inspired to offer care that was kind, caring and supportive and that met the needs of the population.
• Information about services and how to complain was available and easy to understand. Improvements were made to the quality of care as a result of complaints and concerns.
• Patients said they found it easy to make an appointment with a named GP and 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.
• Leadership was reflective at the practice and involved the whole team in a cohesive way, which provided strong and decisive decision making around patient care.
• Although already achieving high outcomes in a number of areas, the practice team wished to improve their services and the experience of patients. They actively explored ways in which to do this.
• The provider was aware of and complied with the requirements of the duty of candour.
• The overall practice deprivation score is worse than the England average, the practice is 41.5 and the England average is 21.8.

We saw several areas of outstanding practice including:

• The practice had promoted positive health checks in teenagers (13, 14 and 15 years old) during 2014/15 and had identified health concerns that would have not normally been detected. As a result of this health check programme the practice extended the teenage health check during 2015/16 to include 16 to 19 year olds. Further health concerns were identified and actioned. Data showed that for 2014/15 six out of 67 patients had abnormalities identified and 2015/16 showed that seven out of 83 had abnormalities identified.

• In January 2014 the practice started a ‘food clinic’ in conjunction with a local healthcare provider and the local authority. The innovative food clinic was designed to encourage patients to promote their own health and well-being by attending cooking sessions on the practice premises. Local chefs were sought and fresh ingredients used to enable patients to be taught ways in which to cook healthy food options that improved their lifestyles and all round general health. We spoke with two PPG members that had attended the four week food clinic session and they told us that it had made a difference to their lives in a positive way by allowing them to improve their own health and choose more health conscious foods in the future using their newly acquired skills.

• The practice also piloted exercise classes for patient in conjunction with a local health centre who also provided a qualified health trainer. A fitness programme of 12 weeks was prescribed to patients with health concerns for example; overweight, high cholesterol levels and poor blood pressure reading. Patients had their health checked at the start of the 12 week programme and at the end when they had completed their exercise programme. All patents identified improvements in their weight, cholesterol levels and blood pressure. This programme is now being rolled out across other practices within the city of Hull.

Professor Steve Field (CBE FRCP FFPH FRCGP) 

Chief Inspector of General Practice