Heaton Road Surgery, Newcastle upon Tyne, is rated as Outstanding by the Care Quality Commission

The Care Quality Commission has found the quality of care provided by the Heaton Road Surgery, Newcastle upon Tyne to be Outstanding following an inspection carried out in February 2015.

Inspectors rated the practice as outstanding for, caring, responsiveness and well led and good for safety and effectiveness. A full report of the inspection has been published today.

Under CQC’s new programme of inspections, all England’s GP practices are being given a rating according to whether they are safe, effective, caring, responsive and well led.

The report on the Heaton Road Surgery highlights a number of areas of outstanding practice including:

• The practice were proactive in their contact with patients who have serious or life-limiting illnesses, promptly offering support after diagnosis Inspectors saw an example of a letter which was sent to patients offering support from the practice and asking the patient to contact them if there was anything they could do to help
• The practice held a dementia register and staff had received training in dementia. The dementia diagnosis rate was the highest in the CCG area at 82% (of the expected diagnosis rate) compared to the CCG average of 62%.
• The practice held a “watch list” - a detailed list of high risk patients such as those who required palliative care. One of the GP partners had responsibility for the list and a dedicated practice nurse undertook reviews of these patients
• There was, in addition, a dedicated practice nurse who reviewed all housebound and care home patients
• The practice arranged to be inspected by North East Health Checkers who use experts by experience with learning disabilities to carry out a quality check of the practice to assess its responsiveness to patients with learning disabilities. The practice carried out an audit of cervical screening uptake in learning disability patients in order to identify any learning on how they can enable this group of patients to undertake this type of health screening.

Sue McMillan, Deputy Chief Inspector of General Practice said:

“The care we observed at the practice really was excellent. It sets a very high standard that every GP Practice should seek to attain.

“I was particularly impressed with Heaton Road’s Surgery approach to responding to the needs of specific patient groups. The measures they have put in place to promote the care of high risk groups - people suffering from dementia and those with learning disabilities are to be applauded.

“This is an excellent well-led GP Practice that is innovative and importantly works closely with local partner organisations including the local Healthwatch. Feedback about staff was consistently strong and positive. Compassionate staff went the extra mile and care exceeded expectations.”

Ends

For media enquiries, David Fryer 07901 514220 or call the CQC press office on 020 7448 9401 during office hours or out of hours on 07917 232 143. For general enquiries, call 03000 61 61 61.