Nottinghamshire GP surgery rated as Outstanding by the Care Quality Commission

The Care Quality Commission (CQC) has found the quality of care provided by University of Nottingham Health Service to be Outstanding following an inspection carried out in June 2015.

Inspectors found that the practice was providing an innovative, caring, effective, responsive and well-led service that meets the needs of the population it serves.

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 University of Nottingham Health Service highlights a number of areas of outstanding practice, including:

• Data showed 100% of patients could get through easily to the surgery by phone. This was above local and national averages. Additionally, the practice patients were the second lowest user of A&E services in the county according to E-Healthscope data.
• The leadership team and the practice had won several national and local awards in recognition of their innovative approaches to delivering high quality care.
• An in-house musculoskeletal, physio and sports medicine service was developed in response to sports injuries linked to the student population and a dermatology and nurse-led acne service was offered and funded by the practice.
• Inspectors saw excellent examples that demonstrated the practice was fully committed to working in partnership with the University of Nottingham and other health and social care providers to address the social and emotional needs of their patients and families.
• In conjunction with the University of Nottingham and Public Health England, the practice undertook a two year study on the mental health needs of international students – specifically those from China and Malaysia.
• The practice had various systems in place to engage and communicate with its student population including a personalised feedback system named “Tell Dan” whereby the practice manager encouraged direct patient feedback to him and an automated text and email messaging service to allow a fast and easy stream of communication.

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

“It is clear University of Nottingham Health Service is providing an effective, responsive and well led service which is a real asset to the people living in this part of Nottinghamshire.

“Feedback from patients and clinical teams was excellent and staff went above and beyond their level of duty to care for patients. The practice also had a positive working atmosphere and was committed to continuing to improve services for its patients.

“We found that the practice displayed an excellent understanding of the differing needs of their patients and staff demonstrated a commitment to help and support them. The practice proactively reached out to the community and worked with other organisations to improve patient outcomes. This included the use of innovative and pioneering approaches to promote services related to sexual health, contraception, travel, health screening, patient self-management and services for students experiencing mental ill health or eating disorders.

“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

For media enquiries, call Regional Engagement Officer Helen Gildersleeve on 0191 233 3379. For media enquiries about the Care Quality Commission, please 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 (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.