The Blackmore Vale Partnership

On this page

• Overview
• Shared direction and culture
• Capable, compassionate and inclusive leaders
• Freedom to speak up
• Workforce equality, diversity and inclusion
• Governance, management and sustainability
• Partnerships and communities
• Learning, improvement and innovation

We assessed and inspected against two quality statements; freedom to speak-up and governance, management and sustainability. During this assessment, we found the provider had clear and effective governance processes, which supported the safe delivery of care. Staff were clear on their individual responsibilities and knew who was accountable for each aspect of the service. Mechanisms were in place for raising and responding to concerns and the culture of the service encouraged an open and transparent working environment.

This service scored 75 (out of 100) for this area. Find out what we look at when we assess this area and How we calculate these scores.

We did not look at Shared direction and culture during this assessment. The score for this quality statement is based on the previous rating for Well-led.

We did not look at Capable, compassionate and inclusive leaders during this assessment. The score for this quality statement is based on the previous rating for Well-led.

Staff we spoke to were able to identify the freedom to speak up guardians and were able to raise concerns without fear of retribution. We received staff feedback as part of the inspection process which highlighted there was an ‘open door’ policy and leaders welcomed feedback for service improvements. Staff told us there were monthly all colleague meetings which included health and wellbeing as a standing agenda item. Staff were offered an employee assistance program (EAP) through the practice’s occupational health service partner and had access to mental health first aiders.

The practice had a freedom to speak up policy in place with named individuals who worked both internally and externally within the Trust and Primary Care Network (PCN). There were opportunities for staff to raise feedback about the service through the annual staff feedback survey. Actions had been taken in the last feedback survey and were raised in the staff forum project. The service reviewed incidents via an electronic reporting platform and feedback was given to staff where appropriate for learning purposes. We saw examples of incidents which included the appropriate investigations were carried out. When something went wrong, people received a sincere and timely apology and were told about any actions being taken to prevent reoccurrence. There was a zero-tolerance policy in relation to the abuse of staff with mechanisms in place to protect people and minimise the likelihood of reoccurrence.

We did not look at Workforce equality, diversity and inclusion during this assessment. The score for this quality statement is based on the previous rating for Well-led.

Staff told us that there was a person-centred approach to delivering care and the service provided care in a way that was inclusive to improve accessibility to vulnerable patient groups. We saw evidence of patient feedback being collated and reviewed monthly with improvements to service provision where needed. Staff told us the practice leaders were inclusive, approachable and visible and described the culture of the service as open, inclusive and supportive. Feedback from staff collected by CQC highlighted that people in vulnerable circumstances were easily able to register with the practice and offered further support where required, including carers and people with learning disabilities. Leaders demonstrated examples of quality improvement activity, for example, the practice used the gold standard framework to identify and support patients who were at the end of their lives, ensuring the practice was able to holistically meet the needs and wishes of those patients.

Leaders explained they provided opportunities and support for different groups of patient population to overcome health inequalities. For example, leaders would identify frequent contactors via telephone audits and offer a more co-ordinated package of care, including referral to the social prescribing team where needed. The leaders promoted the use of their website and online consultation service to improve access and online forms were available to be submitted to the practice for urgent and routine care needs. Practice newsletters were shared on the website and to staff highlighting performance and actions taken in response to themes and trends reviewed through service feedback. We identified an example of how the practice provided guidance to people via the practice website on how staff and teams managed access to services that incorporated the practice’s vision and values. The practice was awarded ‘Dementia Friendly’ accreditation by undertaking dementia training for all staff and we saw examples of service improvement such as implementing changes to toilet facilities and signage at the practice to enable patients who had dementia to access the practice more easily. We saw evidence of effective business continuity arrangements including actions taken in response to recorded risks. We found leaders were able to identify and assess against the practice development plan which included objectives for meeting service provision improvements. We identified suitable succession planning and arrangements. Patient data and information was stored securely in line with digital security standards with relevant information was made available for patients to access in line with privacy, consent notices and general data protection regulations. Information was available for patients on how their data was used, choices regarding consent and how to protect their online data through notices within the practice, registration forms or online via the practice website.

We did not look at Partnerships and communities during this assessment. The score for this quality statement is based on the previous rating for Well-led.

We did not look at Learning, improvement and innovation during this assessment. The score for this quality statement is based on the previous rating for Well-led.