Kidderminster Medical Centre

On this page

• Overview
• Shared direction and culture
• Capable, compassionate and inclusive leaders
• Freedom to speak up
• Workforce equality, diversity and inclusion
• Governance, management and sustainability
• Partnerships and communities
• Learning, improvement and innovation

We looked for evidence that service leadership, management and governance assured high-quality, person-centred care; supported learning and innovation; and promoted an open, fair culture.We rated this key question as Good.

This service scored 79 (out of 100) for this area. Find out what we look at when we assess this area and How we calculate these scores.

The practice had a clear mission statement: ‘Care. Integrity. Commitment. Sustainability.’ Leaders told us Wyre Forest Health Partnership aimed to be a successful and ambitious health partnership working at scale together to provide sustainable, high quality, innovative patient care, delivered by a skilled, valued and respected team.

We saw the practice took their mission statement seriously and were proactive in trying to meet these aims. For example, in line with the aim of being ‘Sustainable’ practice, leaders were passionate about environmental sustainability and told us they used local companies wherever possible such a local sandwich company to cater for practice staff teaching days; increased the plant-based offerings of food for staff; and purchased fairtrade consumables such as tea and coffee for the practice.

The culture of the practice was open, transparent, blame free and non-discriminatory. We saw staff worked well together and the practice was well organised.

Leaders had the skills, knowledge, experience and credibility to lead effectively.

Leaders actively engaged with patients, staff, and partner organisations to gather feedback and they took meaningful action in response. Leaders told us they operated an ‘open door’ policy and encouraged staff to raise concerns. They demonstrated during the assessment how they made changes for the better wherever they could.

We saw the leadership team worked with other practices in the primary care network and were engaged in the development of primary care services within the local area.

The practice strived to ensure staff could speak up and their voice would be heard. There were systems and policies in place to support staff to whistle blow or to speak with a ‘Freedom to Speak Up Guardian’ if they needed to. The practice had appointed a Freedom to Speak Up Guardian who worked externally to the practice. Wyre Forest Health Partnership had also arranged a staff council with staff representatives from each practice. Members of the staff council also acted a Freedom to Speak Up Champions.

The practice valued diversity in their workforce. They had an inclusive and fair culture which had improved equality and equity for people who work for them. Policies and procedures to promote diversity and equality were in place. Staff had received training in equality, diversity and inclusion and were aware of supporting people with protected characteristics such as age, gender, religion and disability. There was a zero tolerance to bullying and harassment and leaders were committed to providing an inclusive and supportive working environment.

The vast majority of staff feedback reported high levels of job satisfaction and staff were encouraged to be involved in contributing to the running of the practice and improving the service delivered for patients.

The practice had clear responsibilities, roles, systems of accountability and good governance. They used these to manage and deliver good quality, sustainable care, treatment and support. They acted on the best information about risk, performance and outcomes, and shared this securely with others when appropriate.

Leaders and managers supported staff, and all staff we spoke with were clear on their individual roles and responsibilities. Nominated GPs had been given lead clinical roles within the practice such as drug and alcohol addictions; respiratory medicine; women’s health; and research.

The practice had established, embedded, governance processes and staff could access all required policies and procedures. Managers held regular meetings with staff, during which they discussed clinical and non-clinical concerns and emerging risks. Managers clearly recorded any actions arising from these meetings and ensured they shared these with staff. Staff took patient confidentiality and information security seriously.

The practice understood their duty to collaborate and work in partnership, so services worked seamlessly for patients. They shared information and learning with partners and collaborated for improvement. The practice worked with other practices within their primary care network (PCN) as well as within the Wyre Forest Health Partnership, and attended meetings where practices shared best practice and quality improvement.

For patients living at a care home, the practice worked together with the care home staff in arranging care and a weekly MDT meeting was arranged to review the care of these patients.

Staff told us they referred patients to the Pharmacy First service where appropriate. Pharmacy First is a consultation service which enables patients to be referred into community pharmacy for a minor illness or an urgent repeat medicine supply. The service helps to free up GP appointments for patients who need them most and includes the supply of appropriate medicines for 7 common conditions including earache, sore throat, and urinary tract infections, aiming to address health issues before they get worse.

The practice collected patient feedback regularly via the NHS “Friends and Family Test” and reported on these outcomes each month. On an annual basis, the practice reviewed the National GP Patient Survey results and identified areas for improvement.

In addition, the practice had a patient participation group (PPG) and staff had discussions with and collated feedback from the PPG to identify improvements for the practice.

The practice was passionate about continuous learning, innovation and improvement. Staff participated in quality improvement work and used learning from significant events and complaints to continually improve the service they provided.

The GP Site Manager for Kidderminster Medical Centre was also the lead for research and presented us with numerous examples of research studies the practice was participating in. In addition, in response to the ‘Community Health and Wellbeing Worker initiative’ study which is an outreach healthcare approach based on Brazil’s ‘Family Health Strategy’; the GP Site Manager had undertaken an extensive analysis of the patient population assessing health needs and deprivation. This analysis identified two priority neighbourhoods within the practice geographical area. The practice had recruited two ‘Neighbourhood Outreach Co-ordinators’ whose role included going out to this community and knocking on people’s doors to ask them about their health and social care needs. The aims of the outreach work included improving access to primary care services and reducing reliance on urgent care services; and understanding from patients any barriers to accessing primary care services.

In accord with the practice mission statement to be a ‘Sustainable’ practice, leaders told us about various endeavours to achieve this. For example, one of the GPs had undertaken primary care air pollution training and participated in cascading information to respiratory nurses at an educational meeting.Air pollution can play a part in causing asthma and can make symptoms worse. Clinicians had been actively working to increase the prescribing of Dry Powder Inhalers (DPIs) rather than Metered Dose Inhalers (MDIs) because these are significantly better for the environment and have a much lower carbon footprint. Leaders monitored the prescribing of MDI inhalers and reported the rate continues to fall.

In addition, another endeavour for sustainability was that the practice had made a presentation to the Wyre Forest Health Partnership partners on diet and the food system, and this led to a decision to opt for plant-based catering at meetings.

Clinicians told us they were proactive in 'Green' prescribing for patients. A 'Green Prescription' is a healthcare professional's recommendation, or written prescription, for patients to engage in nature-based activities or increase physical activity to improve physical and mental health. It is a non-clinical, nature-based intervention aimed at tackling conditions like anxiety, depression, diabetes, and high blood pressure. The practice had set up a weekly 'Walk Talk Walk' group where patients could meet or go for walks or runs together and talk with each other. This group took place every Tuesday at 6:30pm and met at the rear entrance of the practice.

Kidderminster Medical Centre is a teaching practice providing training for medical students, GP Registrars and foundation Pharmacists. Leaders told us they were in the process of developing an ‘Introduction to Medicine’ session for students of local schools.

Staff were enthusiastic about the Wyre Forest Health Partnership ‘CQC Dashboard’ which had been developed which collated data from all of the practices within the partnership and facilitated performance monitoring, sharing of information, and learning for improvement. In addition, the Wyre Forest Health Partnership had a business development committee. This committee meeting was designed to provide a structured forum where innovation was actively encouraged, reviewed, and embedded into practice.