We carried out an announced inspection at Sunvalley Medical Practice on 8 April 2022. Overall, the practice is rated as Good with the following key question ratings:
Safe - Good
Effective – Good
Caring - Good
Responsive - Good
Well-led - Outstanding
Why we carried out this inspection
This was a full comprehensive inspection due to a new provider taking over the registration of the practice.
How we carried out the inspection
Throughout the pandemic CQC has continued to regulate and respond to risk. However, taking into account the circumstances arising as a result of the pandemic, and in order to reduce risk, we have conducted our inspections differently.
This inspection included:
- A site visit by the lead inspector.
- Conducting staff interviews remotely and on site.
- Completing clinical searches remotely on the practice’s patient records system and discussing findings with the provider.
- Reviewing patient records remotely to identify issues and clarify actions taken by the provider.
- Requesting evidence from the provider.
- Gaining feedback from staff by using staff questionnaires.
Our findings
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.
Our findings
We have rated this practice as good overall.
We rated the practice as good for providing safe services because:
- The practice provided care in a way that kept patients safe and protected them from avoidable harm.
We rated the practice as good for providing effective services because:
- Patients received effective care and treatment that met their needs.
We rated the practice as good for providing caring services because:
- Staff dealt with patients with kindness and respect and involved them in decisions about their care.
We rated the practice as good for providing responsive services because:
- The practice adjusted how it delivered services to meet the needs of patients during the COVID-19 pandemic. Patients could access care and treatment in a timely way.
We rated the practice as outstanding for providing well led services because:
- The provider had carried out an analysis of the local area and population and had a good understanding of the challenges faced in their area.
- There was a strategy in place to continue to improve the delivery of high-quality care and treatment at practice and provider level and the whole team was involved strategy discussions.
- Governance and performance management arrangements were reviewed regularly and all staff, including temporary staff, had access to all the information they required to carry out their duties.
- The leadership, governance and culture were used to drive and improve the delivery of high-quality person-centred care.
- Feedback from staff was consistently positive. Staff felt able to raise concerns and we saw examples of this happening. Staff felt empowered to drive improvement and they had the support of the leadership team when doing this.
- There were high levels of staff engagement at all levels within the organisation. The provider also ensured informal engagement was offered and they had continued this during the pandemic, finding ways to do this safely and within the guidance.
- Staff were valued within the organisation and given the opportunity to develop and progress professional both in clinical and non-clinical roles.
Whilst we found no breaches of regulations, the provider should:
- Improve childhood immunisations in line with WHO targets.
- Improve the level of cervical screening.
We found areas of outstanding practice:
- Bereavement support, for patients, families and staff, was exceptional. The advanced nurse practitioner team worked with patients, families and care homes to help patients with their end of life wishes, and they arranged for memory boxes to be made for relatives.
- The practice initiated substantial outreach work in the community during the pandemic. Senior clinicians from the practice visited local shop owners to educate them about Covid 19 prevention methods and encourage them to hand out information to their customers. They also went door to door in the areas with high Covid 19 prevalence to give information to their patients and other residents.
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