The Care Quality Commission (CQC) has found the quality of care provided by Dr Stephenson and Partners based at Victoria Road Health Centre, in Victoria Road, Washington to be Outstanding following an inspection in October 2019.
Inspectors rated the care Outstanding for being effective, caring and well led and Good for being safe and responsive.
Full copy of the inspection report can be found at: www.cqc.org.uk/location/1-542210008
Beverley Cole, Head of General Practice in the North Region, said:
“Dr Stephenson and Partners has taken to heart our original inspection report from January 2016 and built on it – not just in those areas where improvements were required but in their stronger areas too. They are providing high quality service with high quality integrated care and treatment. The service is a real asset to providing and very valuable service to the vulnerable in this area of Washington.
“Staff were dedicated to providing a proactive approach to understanding the needs of vulnerable patient groups and staff delivered care in a way that meets patients’ needs and promoted equality while providing treatment with dignity and compassion.
“This is a great example of what outstanding care looks like and the team should be very proud of what they have achieved to date.”
The practice had a social prescriber who worked as a link 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.
There was strong collaboration in working with other organisations to improve care outcomes and tackle health inequalities.
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. This team had ensured improvements in patient care and had reduced hospital admissions and accident and emergency attendances.
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For further information please contact CQC Regional Engagement Manager John Scott on 07789875809 or, for media enquiries, call the press office on 020 7448 9401 during office hours.
Journalists wishing to speak to the press office outside of office hours can find out how to contact the team here www.cqc.org.uk/media/our-media-office (Please note: the duty press officer is unable to advise members of the public on health or social care matters). For general enquiries, please call 03000 61 61 61.