Irlam Medical Practice is rated as Outstanding by the Care Quality Commission

The Care Quality Commission has found the quality of care provided by the Irlam Medical Practice in Salford to be Outstanding following an inspection carried out in October.

Inspectors found that the practice was providing an innovative, caring, effective, responsive and well-led service that meets the needs of the population it serves. A full report of the inspection has been published on the CQC website here.

Under CQC’s new 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 the Irlam Medical Practice highlights a number of areas of outstanding practice including:

• Staff proactively follow up information received about vulnerable patients. Inspectors saw examples where clinical and reception staff had used their initiative to raise a concern or pass on information which led to a positive outcome for the patient.
• Inspectors saw excellent examples of close working partnerships with other health and social care professionals, which included care planning and a view to avoid unplanned hospital admissions.
• The practice reaches out to the local community, with nurses voluntarily carrying out an annual stroke awareness clinic at a local supermarket, where they provided health and blood pressure checks, and identification of any underlying health issues.

Professor Steve Field, Chief Inspector of General Practice said:

“It is clear that Irlam Medical Practice is providing a caring and effective service which is a real asset to the people living in this part of Manchester.

“All the staff know their patients very well, they go out of their way to understand all those things that affect their health and wellbeing, and are professional and respectful when providing care and treatment.

“While care for all groups of patients is good, we found that care for older people, for people who are vulnerable and for those with long term conditions to be outstanding. Staff showed us they were able to recognise signs of abuse in older people, they contacted patients with known memory or confusion issues by phone to remind them of appointments and they arranged home visits for flu vaccinations and health checks for people who struggled to attend the surgery.

People we met praised reception staff for their helpfulness and the nurses and GPs were praised for their compassion and effective treatment. The practice had excellent clinical leadership and teamwork with a superb learning culture. It worked closely with other local practices, agencies and the local hospital, Salford Royal, to improve the quality of care provided for local people. All of this hard work pays off in making a real difference for their patients – which is why we have found this practice to be Outstanding.”

Ends

For media enquiries, call the CQC press office on 020 7448 9401 during office hours or out of hours on 07917 232 143.

For general enquiries, call 03000 61 61 61.