First GP practice in London to be rated as Outstanding

The Care Quality Commission has found the quality of care provided by the MEEBBB Health CIC (St Pauls Way Medical Centre) in Tower Hamlets, London to be Outstanding following an inspection carried out in November. This is the first GP practice in London to be rated in this way.

Under CQC’s new programme of inspections, all of England’s GP practices are being given a rating according to whether they are safe, effective, caring, responsive and well led.

Inspectors rated the practice at St Paul’s Way, Outstanding for being effective, responsive and well-led. A full report of the inspection has been published.

The report highlights a number of areas of outstanding practice, including:

• The practice recognises the needs of different groups in the planning of its services. For example, bi-lingual staff were recruited that were able to speak Bengali and patients also had access to a Health Advocacy and Interpreting Service to help them with their communication needs.
• The practice regularly works with others to improve care outcomes and tackle inequalities. The practice participates in a Social Prescribing project in which they refer patients to wider support services, activities and programmes within the borough.
• The practice regularly works on wider projects with Public Health England and the community drug therapies team and provides weekly Benefits Advisor sessions for patients.
• The practice undertakes a number of health promotion activities both in house and out in the community to enable patients and members of the public to increase control over, and to improve, their health.
• The practice had a screened off area near to the reception which staff said could be utilised if a patient wished to have a private discussion with a member of the reception team and this would prevent patients overhearing potentially private conversations. It could also be used for breastfeeding mothers if they wished it.
• Staff are encouraged and supported by the practice to acquire new skills, nurses had attended a diabetes care certificate training course approved by Warwick University to fulfil their role in running the diabetes clinics for patients and the Health Care assistant had undertaken flu vaccination training and was currently being supported to study for an Assistant Practitioner qualification.

Ruth Rankine, Deputy Chief Inspector of General Practice, said:

"We found that the St Pauls Way Medical Centre is providing an Outstanding service, particularly for people whose circumstances may make them vulnerable.

“We were particularly impressed with practice’s work to initiate positive service improvements for patients. We found that staff demonstrated a sound understanding of the differing needs of their patients and acted on these needs in the planning and delivery of its services

“The GPs and staff at St Pauls Way Medical Centre have demonstrated a real commitment to their patients.

“All of this hard work and dedication pays off in making a real difference for their patients – which is why we have found this practice to be Outstanding.”

Professor Steve Field, Chief Inspector of General Practice, said:

“I am delighted to highlight the exceptional standard of care which is being provided by the St Pauls Way Medical Centre.

"Throughout the inspection we were particularly impressed by the many ways in which the practice engaged with patients and involved them in the life of the practice. I have no doubt that everyone should share the credit for this Outstanding service."

Ends

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