The Care Quality Commission has found the quality of care provided by The Olive Family Practice Ltd, Bolton, to be Outstanding following an inspection carried out in May 2016.
Inspectors rated the practice as Outstanding for effectiveness, caring, well-led and responsiveness, and Good for safety. A full report of the inspection has been published.
Under CQC’s 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.
Feedback from patients about their care was consistently positive, the practice had good facilities and was well equipped to treat patients and meet their needs. In addition the practice actively reviewed complaints and how they were managed and responded to.
The practice used innovative and proactive methods to improve patient outcomes. For example, they did not have set appointment times and instead had devised a system using units of activity. This worked well due to the diverse needs of the patients, where interpreters were often required and often patients had complex needs.
The report on The Olive Family Practice Ltd highlights a number of areas of outstanding practice including:
- GPs usually looked after the palliative care needs of their patients, and where it was anticipated they would be away from the practice another GP in the area was introduced to the family in advance to ensure continuity of care. GPs were contacted by religious leaders or families when a death occurred and they attended in a timely manner to issue death certificates so a funeral could be arranged according to the patient’s religious beliefs.
- In response to demand during the winter months the practice had a walk-in surgery for a short time in the afternoons. They still directed patients to the pharmacy if this was appropriate but they found the open surgery was the most effective way of managing the needs of the patients and the time of the clinical and reception staff.
- The practice offered the usual over 40 health checks to the over 30s, particularly due to the higher prevalence of diabetes in the practice population. Patients had access to appropriate health assessments and checks. These included health checks for new patients and NHS health checks for patients aged 40–74. The practice had recognised that due to the ethnic diversity of the practice population some health issues, such as diabetes, were prevalent in younger patients.
CQC’s Deputy Chief Inspector of General Practice in the North says:
“This is an excellent practice, delivering top quality care in Bolton with a focus on its patients and the diverse religious communities. For a practice to be rated outstanding in four out of five domains, and good in the remaining domain clearly demonstrates that there is a committed workforce that has patient-centred care as its central theme.
“Getting an appointment was straightforward, 88% of patients found it easy to get through to this practice by phone and 81% of patients were able to get an appointment to see or speak to someone the last time they tried. Of the patients we spoke to during the inspection they told us they could access emergency appointments when needed, and felt included in decisions about their health and treatment.
“The practice was good at arranging information sessions with patients to provide them with relevant information, because of the multi-cultural mix of the community the practice used interpreters. The lead GP explained that they had researched the different needs of the cultural and religious groups in the area as they had different health outcomes and beliefs.
"The practice manager monitored staff training. They also tested the knowledge of staff about relevant training during the weekly practice meetings. Staff told us they found this positive and helpful. From all that we witnessed the efforts being made by all that work at The Olive Family Practice Ltd is clearly paying off which is why we have found this practice to be Outstanding.”
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This is an excellent practice, delivering top quality care in Bolton with a focus on its patients and the diverse religious communities.
Sue McMillan, Deputy Chief Inspector of General Practice in the North