Letter from the Chief Inspector of General Practice
This practice is rated as Outstanding overall. (Previous inspection April 2015 – Good)
The key questions are rated as:
Are services safe? – Good
Are services effective? – Good
Are services caring? – Good
Are services responsive? – Outstanding
Are services well-led? - Outstanding
As part of our inspection process, we also look at the quality of care for specific population groups. The population groups are rated as:
Older People – Good
People with long-term conditions – Good
Families, children and young people – Good
Working age people (including those recently retired and students – Good
People whose circumstances may make them vulnerable – Outstanding
People experiencing poor mental health (including people with dementia) - Outstanding
We carried out an announced comprehensive inspection at Haughton Thornley Medical
Centres on 6 December 2017 as part of our inspection programme.
At this inspection we found:
- The practice had clear systems to manage risk so that safety incidents were less likely to happen. When incidents did happen, the practice learned from them and improved their processes.
- The practice routinely reviewed the effectiveness and appropriateness of the care it provided. It ensured that care and treatment was delivered according to evidence- based guidelines.
- Staff involved and treated patients with compassion, kindness, dignity and respect.
- Patients found the appointment system easy to use and reported that they were able to access care when they needed it.
- There was a strong focus on continuous learning and improvement at all levels of the organisation.
We saw several areas of outstanding practice including:
- The practice and PPG were proactive in encouraging patients to sign up to have full online access to their medical records. We saw to date the practice have 62% of patients signed up for access. The practice were in the process of evaluating the impact and monitoring usage to assess the benefits to patients and the practice.
- The PPG in partnership with Hyde Community Action ran an ESOL course (English for Speakers of Other Languages) with a health theme for 16 female patients in which they taught them how to access a GP and other health services, how to sign up for online services, medical records access and how to use “My Medication Passport”. Evaluations of this project showed, by the end of the course, 100% of the women reported increased confidence, knowledge, awareness of online access to health records, healthy eating, exercise, pharmacy and other local services and they shared the information with their family and friends.There was a waiting list of 60 patients for future courses.
- The practice secured funding in 2015 for the Hyde Healthy Living project which was to benefit all patients over 75 years of age across the neighborhood including those registered with other practices. Although the formal funding for the project ended in August 2017 the practice had maintained the social prescribing, additional GP time, and the pharmacist and were working with the local Health and Well-being team to co-ordinate future reviews. Evaluation of the programme to date showed 102 patients and their carers benefitted from the programme and their goals were monitored and outcomes measured using a nationally recognized evaluation tool. We saw from the evaluation, following intervention 53% said they felt more positive, 56% were managing their symptoms. Outcomes for individuals included a review of benefits received, disability badges issued, stair lifts and mobility aids being fitted to help prevent falls and support to attend social events. Hyde Healthy Living Project was awarded the BMJ Primary care team of the year 2016.
- Following on from the Healthy Hyde project have integrated social prescribing pathways and templates into the clinical system allowing staff to quickly refer patients for additional support in the community where required, for example to Age UK and the community response team. Data provided by the practice showed 180 social referrals were made by the practice, meaning a quicker more streamlined system for patients
Professor Steve Field (CBE FRCP FFPH FRCGP)
Chief Inspector of General Practice