The Care Quality Commission (CQC) has found the quality of care provided by Hamstreet Surgery in Ashford, Kent to be Outstanding following an inspection in September 2016.
Inspectors rated the care at Hamstreet Surgery Outstanding for being caring, responsive to people’s needs and well-led and Good for being safe and effective.
Professor Steve Field, Chief Inspector of General Practice said: “I am delighted to highlight the exceptional service at Hamstreet Surgery, people are entitled to services which provide safe, effective, compassionate and high quality care. The GPs and staff have demonstrated a real commitment to their patients.
“All of this hard work and dedication pays off in making a real difference for their patients – which is why we have found the practice to be Outstanding. I hope other practices will see this service as a model for excellent care.”
Ruth Rankine, Deputy Chief Inspector of General Practice in the South Region, said:
“Hamstreet Surgery is providing an exceptional service and is a real asset to the people living in this part of Kent.
“The practice provided excellent responsive care, and were innovative in their approaches to provide integrated person-centred care that was tailored to meet patient’s needs. This included allowing patient access seven days per week and allowing a collection point for medication on the more rural areas. This demonstrated the providers clear vision and priorities to improve quality and outcomes for patients, and for those in the most vulnerable positions.”
Simon Perks, Accountable Officer for NHS Ashford Clinical Commissioning Group which commissions GP services in the Ashford area, said:
“This is a great tribute to the hard work of staff at Hamstreet Surgery and I am delighted that the practice’s patients are benefiting from the high quality care and services they are providing.
“These inspections are important to make sure every patient receives consistently high quality services by identifying issues for improvement and also recognising best practice.”
The report highlights a number of areas of outstanding practice, including:
- A team of GPs, an elderly care consultant, social care staff, community nurses and representatives from the voluntary sectors met every fortnight to offer the community a ‘virtual’ ward to make sure patients’ emotional and social needs were met.
- The practice worked with two local surgeries to provide patients with access to services seven days a week. Through this scheme, over 25,000 patients had access to urgent appointments at the weekend (on the Sunday at Hamstreet Surgery).
- For those who had difficulty collecting their medications in the rural community, the practice had arranged two collection points in the two local villages.
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This is a great tribute to the hard work of staff at Hamstreet Surgery and I am delighted that the practice’s patients are benefiting from the high quality care and services they are providing.
Simon Perks, Accountable Officer for NHS Ashford CCG