Herefordshire GP surgery is rated as Outstanding by the Care Quality Commission

The Care Quality Commission has found the quality of care provided by The Weobley and Staunton-On-Wye Surgeries, Herefordshire to be Outstanding following an inspection carried out in August.

Inspectors found the practice was exceptional in ensuring that services were tailored to meet the needs of individual patients.

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 Weobley and Staunton-On-Wye Surgeries highlights a number of areas of outstanding practice, including:

• Weobley Surgery had looked for innovative ways to develop services for patients in their area. They had been involved in a number of pilot schemes such as the provision of a specialist clinic to review all patients with Atrial Fibrillation (heart disease) who may be at additional risk of a stroke. These reviews resulted in positive outcomes for patients. The practice shared their learning from these and other pilots they engaged in with the CCG area.
• The practice had an equipment fund that was registered with the charities commissioners and managed by a committee of patient representatives. This fund enabled the purchase of additional equipment to be used for the benefit of patients. The practice told us that they contributed to this fund-raising by asking for donations rather than charge fees for some forms they were requested to complete. The fund had enabled them to purchase and loan equipment to patients such as syringe drivers (for pain management), heart monitoring recorder to aid diagnoses, blood pressure monitoring machines, an audiometer to assess hearing, and defibrillators in all GP cars for restarting a person’s heart in an emergency. There was a community defibrillator attached to the outside of the building for the use of the village first responder.
• The practice showed a high level of commitment to the needs of patients receiving palliative care and recognised that many of them wanted to receive the highest quality of care and support to enable them to die with dignity in their own home or care home. Effective systems were in place to ensure they received their end of life care in line with their expressed preferences. The practice operated a direct one to one on-call rota to provide individual care and support to patients in their end of life.
• The practice was one of the highest performing practices in Herefordshire for the care for diabetic patients. The practice had 300 patients diagnosed with diabetes. A dedicated community dementia worker provided clinics at the practice. There was a high uptake of flu vaccines (100% which was higher than the national average of 93%) and foot examinations (96% which was higher than the national average of 88%) for diabetic patients.
• Weobley Surgery was leading on trials for a standardised approach to practice nurse appraisal documentation. This documentation was to be used in the completion of appraisals towards continued professional development, leading to revalidation for nurses. The outcome of the trial was to share the documentation with all practices within the county. One of the GPs also coordinated a monthly educational evening in conjunction with a neighbouring practice. The evening was open to all local practices and consultants, and other experts were invited according to the learning needs identified by the group.

Janet Williamson, Deputy Chief Inspector of General Practice and Dentistry in CQC’s Central region said:

“The practice had a clear vision which had quality and safety as its top priority. A business plan was in place, which was monitored, regularly reviewed and discussed with all staff. High standards were promoted and owned by all the practice staff and there was evidence of good team working across all staff roles.

“Patients we spoke with were satisfied with the care provided by the practice and said their dignity and privacy was respected.

“The practice had a highly motivated and committed staff team to enable them to deliver well-led services. All staff we spoke with said they were proud of the organisation as a place to work. There was a very open, positive and supportive culture. This was evident by the response to incidents, significant events and complaints.

“All of this hard work pays off in making a real difference to patients – which is why we have found this practice to be Outstanding.”

Ends

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