The Care Quality Commission
  • Doctor
  • GP practice

Dr Stephenson and Partners

Overall: Outstanding read more about inspection ratings

Victoria Road Health Centre, Victoria Road, Washington, Tyne and Wear, NE37 2PU (0191) 416 2578

Provided and run by:
The Stephenson Medical Practice

All Inspections

6 July 2023

During a monthly review of our data

We carried out a review of the data available to us about Dr Stephenson and Partners 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 Dr Stephenson and Partners, you can give feedback on this service.

22 October 2019

During an inspection looking at part of the service

We carried out an announced focused inspection at Dr Stephenson and partners on 22 October 2019 as part of our inspection programme.

We decided to undertake an inspection of this service following our annual review of the information available to us.

Following our review of the information available to us, including information provided by the practice, we focused our inspection on the following key questions:

  • Is the practice effective?
  • Is the practice responsive?
  • Is the practice well-led?

Because of the assurance received from our review of information we carried forward the ratings for the following key questions:

  • Is the practice safe? – (Good- January 2016)
  • Is the practice caring? – (Outstanding- January 2016)

We based our judgement of the quality of care at this service on a combination of:

  • what we found when we inspected
  • information from our ongoing monitoring of data about services and
  • information from the provider, patients, the public and other organisations.

We have rated this practice as Outstanding overall.

We rated the practice as outstanding for providing effective services because:

  • There was a holistic approach to assessing, planning and delivering care and treatment to patients who use services.
  • Staff were highly engaged in activities to monitor and improve quality and outcomes and high performance is recognised by external bodies.

We rated the practice as outstanding for providing well-led services because:

  • The leadership governance and culture at the practice drives and improves the delivery of high-quality person-centred care.
  • There was strong collaboration in working with other organisations to improve care outcomes and tackle health inequalities.

We found that:

  • The practice had systems to keep clinicians up to date with current evidence-based practice. We saw that clinicians assessed needs and delivered care and treatment in line with current legislation, standards and guidance.
  • Care was delivered and reviewed in a coordinated way when different teams, services or organisations are involved. There was a clear ethos of working in partnership to meet the needs of patients, particularly those most vulnerable and most at risk of otherwise not having good access to healthcare.
  • The practice had a programme of quality improvement activity and routinely reviewed the effectiveness and appropriateness of the care provided. We saw this was integral to how the practice monitored and improved the way they worked.
  • We found staff had the knowledge and skills needed to provide effective care.
  • The practice demonstrated they had good governance processes to monitor and improve safety and safeguarding within the practice.
  • There was a clear vision and strategy to deliver high quality, sustainable care. The practice was clearly linked in with other organisations to help them deliver effective, targeted, coordinated health care to their population. There was a clear ethos of no one left behind.
  • There were arrangements in place to support good governance and management. The practice has an in depth knowledge of their own performance. Where areas for improvement were identified the practice developed and implemented action plans to support improvements.
  • The practice culture was clearly to innovate to support sustainability and good quality care.
  • The practice had clear and effective processes for managing risks, issues and performance. These were well embedded and kept the practice up to date with what actions were needed.
  • The practice learned, improved and innovated as a result of safety information and incidents.

We saw examples of outstanding practice:

  • The practice had all-encompassing systems and processes in place to ensure that patients received high quality care and treatment. This included a team who monitored the searches for reviews of certain conditions. The multi-disciplinary team meeting process had ensured improvements in patient care and had reduced hospital admissions and accident and emergency attendances.
  • The practice had a social prescriber who worked as a link worker to support and help patients to be referred to local non-clinical services to support their wellbeing. This included patients who were carers, patients with dementia, war veterans, those needing help from food banks and victims of domestic abuse. The practice had strong processes in place to help victims of domestic abuse and one the GPs was the lead for this.
  • The practice had carried out a significant amount of audits and other quality improvement work to enhance patient care.

The area where the provider should make improvements are:

  • Evaluate the outcome of the new telephone system and the assess the impact it has had on patients being able to make an appointment.

Details of our findings and the evidence supporting our ratings are set out in the evidence tables.

Dr Rosie Benneyworth BM BS BMedSci MRCGP

Chief Inspector of Primary Medical Services and Integrated Care

18 January 2016

During a routine inspection

Letter from the Chief Inspector of General Practice

We carried out an announced comprehensive inspection at the Dr Stephenson and Partners on 18 January 2016. Overall, the practice is rated as good.

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

  • There was an open and transparent approach to safety and a highly effective system for reporting and recording significant events

  • Risks to patients and staff were assessed and well managed.

  • Staff assessed patients’ needs and delivered care in line with current evidence based guidance. They had the skills, knowledge and experience to deliver effective care and treatment.

  • The practice worked closely with other organisations and with the local community when planning how services were provided, to ensure patients’ needs were met.

  • Patients’ emotional and social needs were seen as being as important as their physical needs, and there was a strong, visible, person-centred culture. Patients said they were treated with compassion, dignity and respect and that they were involved in decisions about their treatment. The practice had signed up to the Dignity Code issued by the Pensioners Convention. (This Code sets out what staff should do in order to respect the dignity of older people.) Staff we spoke with were aware of this Code, and understood what they needed to do to comply with this on a day-to-day basis.

  • The practice had good facilities and was well equipped to treat patients and meet their needs.

  • Services were tailored to meet the needs of individual patients and were delivered in a way that ensured flexibility, choice and continuity of care. All staff were actively engaged in monitoring and improving quality and patient outcomes. Staff were highly committed to supporting patients to live healthier lives through a targeted and proactive approach to health promotion.

  • The leadership, governance and management of the practice assured the delivery of high-quality person-centred care, supported learning, and promoted an open and fair culture. Staff had a clear vision and strategy for the development of the practice. All staff held leadership roles and had invested in the practice doing well.

We also saw areas of outstanding practice:

  • The practice showed leadership across the local region. A number of clinical staff held key lead roles both within the local clinical commissioning group and the wider locality, and demonstrated their commitment to improving patient care by supporting new and innovative ways of working. For example, the practice had taken a lead role in producing a ‘Young Carers’ booklet in conjunction with the young carers at the Sunderland Carers Centre. As part of their commitment to improving services and outcomes for patients, the practice had played key roles in piloting new initiatives, for example, trialling changes in electronic laboratory reporting systems. This is outstanding because clinical staff are showing strong leadership in piloting new ways of working which have been adopted by other practices.

However, there was also an area where the provider needs to make improvements. The provider should:

  • Continue to review and improve the practice’s telephone access and appointment system.

  • Keep a record of any decisions they make in relation to obtaining satisfactory evidence of staff's conduct in previous periods of employment.

Professor Steve Field (CBE FRCP FFPH FRCGP) 

Chief Inspector of General Practice