Bradford medical practice rated as Outstanding by the Care Quality Commission – one of the best practices CQC has ever inspected

The Care Quality Commission has found the quality of care provided by the Bevan House Medical Practice, Bradford, West Yorkshire to be Outstanding following an inspection carried out in February 2015.

Inspectors rated the practice as Outstanding for caring, responsiveness, well-led, safety, and effectiveness. Overall, the practice was rated as outstanding. 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.

The report on Bevan House highlights many areas of outstanding practice including:

• The Bradford Respite and Intermediate Care Support Service (BRICSS) is a respite service that has been developed, where the Bevan team work with a social housing provider to offer respite accommodation for homeless patients who require medical care after they are discharged from hospital. These initiatives led to an increase in the number of homeless people registering with the practice, a reduction in the use of acute healthcare, A&E admissions and days spent in hospital
• The Street Medicine Team held mobile outreach clinics in city centre locations to enhance access for vulnerable patients and also offered advice and healthcare to people who were not registered with the practice
• Dedicated teams within the practice worked closely with other organisations in ensuring bespoke services were provided to meet patients’ needs. For example, the Bevan Pathway Team attended regular meetings at the local hospital to review its patient group and improve patient discharge and the provision of care and support. These initiatives led to an increase in the number of homeless people registering with the practice, a reduction in the use of acute healthcare, A&E admissions and days spent in hospital. The intervention of these teams with homeless patients has shown significant cost savings in acute care of 62%.
• Feedback from the Patient Participation Group called the Experts by Experience (ExE), was integral to the running of the practice. Their views were actively sought and valued. The practice held numerous patient focus groups to find out their views on topics such as diabetes care. The group had been involved in the design, build and decoration of the new premises - it hosted services and helped provide an integrated set of services around the needs of the vulnerable people who are users of the building and practice
• The practice had recruited a mental health nurse and a vulnerable migrants nurse, to work alongside a practice nurse, to effectively support patients. This had enabled the practice to be prepared to meet the needs of new patients, conduct structured assessments and refer as necessary to relevant services, prior to the persons arrival in the country
• Staff were clearly motivated and inspired to offer kind and compassionate care and worked to overcome obstacles to achieving this. Clothing, food, oral and personal hygiene packs and ‘cold weather packs’ (consisting of gloves, socks, a hat, scarf, water and a bar of chocolate) were offered to those patients who were in urgent need
• The practice had moved to new premises that allowed it to host other services and provide a “one stop shop” for patients. The teams located in the practice included the homeless team, benefits services, refugee support workers, rape crisis, legal, housing, midwifery and health visiting teams

Professor Steve Field Chief Inspector of General Practice says:

“This is one of the best practices CQC has inspected. Bevan House was outstanding in each of the categories we inspect against and outstanding in every one of the six population groups – a remarkable achievement.

“The work that this practice was doing in the wider community is exemplary and deserves recognition. It is very clear the practice is providing outstanding, personalised, patient-centred care very often connecting with traditionally difficult-to-reach patient groups.

“This practice benefits hugely from high staff morale. Staff are motivated and the practice had a clear pro-active vision which had quality and safety as its top priority.

“I had the benefit of being part of the inspection team and I can vouch personally for Bevan House. If there is a better practice in England I look forward to visiting it.”

“The day that I spent with the Bevan House team really inspired me. There are so many aspects to this practice deserving of recognition and I urge other practices to read this report. This is an utterly outstanding practice and just shows what can be achieved with excellent leadership and teamwork which includes the team and the patients that this practice serves.”

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