Stort Valley Healthcare Limited

This service is rated as Good overall.

The key questions are rated as:

Are services safe? – Good

Are services effective? – Good

Are services caring? – Good

Are services responsive? – Good

Are services well-led? – Good

We carried out an announced inspection at Stort Valley Healthcare Limited on 10 December 2021 as part of our inspection programme.

How we carried out the inspection

Throughout the pandemic CQC has continued to regulate and respond to risk. However, taking into account the circumstances arising as a result of the pandemic, and in order to reduce risk, we have conducted our inspections differently.

This inspection was carried out in a way which enabled us to spend a minimum amount of time on site. This was with consent from the provider and in line with data protection and information governance requirements.

Our findings

We based our judgement of the quality of care at this service on a combination of:

• what we found when we inspected
• information from our ongoing monitoring of data about services and
• information from the provider, patients, the public and other organisations.

At this inspection we found:

• The service had clear systems to keep people safe and safeguarded from abuse. Staff had received appropriate pre-employment checks and relevant training.
• The service had good systems to manage risk so that safety incidents were less likely to happen. When they did happen, the service learned from them and improved their processes.
• There were systems to assess, monitor and manage risks to patient safety these included an overview of risk assessments of the GP practices used by the service.
• The service routinely reviewed the effectiveness and appropriateness of the care it provided. It ensured that care and treatment was delivered according to current evidence-based guidelines.
• Staff helped patients be involved in decisions about their care and provided health information when needed.
• Patients were able to access care and treatment from the service in the evenings and weekends by booking appointments via their usual GP practice.
• There were clear responsibilities, roles and systems of accountability to support good governance and management.
• There was a strong focus on continuous learning and improvement at all levels of the organisation.

Dr Rosie Benneyworth BM BS BMedSci MRCGP

Chief Inspector of Primary Medical Services and Integrated Care