The Care Quality Commission has found the quality of care provided by Shinwell Medical Centre, Peterlee to be Outstanding following an inspection carried out in January 2017.
Inspectors rated the practice as Outstanding for responsiveness and well-led, and Good for safe, effective and caring, giving them their overall Outstanding rating.
A full report of the inspection has been published on our website.
CQC’s Deputy Chief Inspector of General Practice in the North, Alison Holbourn says:
“Shinwell Medical Centre is an impressive service that consistently responded to local difficulties faced by patients with real commitment to their wellbeing."
“In response to local authority plans to close a community centre in the area, they set up a charitable trust to save it. They also successfully took on the contract for another local GP practice that was closing, providing care for an additional 800 patients."
“The feedback we received from people using their services was extremely positive. The practice also listened to the feedback people gave and used it to improve their services."
“The practice is extremely well-led, with management always pushing for continuous improvement. We saw staff that were highly motivated, going above and beyond what their jobs required to provide outstanding care.”
Professor Steve Field, CQC's Chief Inspector of General Practice said:
“I am delighted to highlight the exceptional service which is being provided by this practice."
Some of the CQC’s findings included:
Public health prevention and promotion as part of the NHS agenda was a priority for the practice. This included the setting up of a charity in order to save a local community centre (Roseby Road Wellbeing Centre) which was due for closure. This was then used to combat social isolation and provide a place for health promotion for the local community.
Staff from Shinwell Medical Centre also attended Peterlee Annual Carnival in an official capacity in their own time. The practice also visited local primary schools to familiarise the children with medical equipment and talk about health promotion.
The practice worked closely with other organisations and with the local community in planning how services were provided to ensure that they met patients’ needs. Examples included supporting ten local practices to develop services closer to home for patients.
The Nurse Practitioner visited local primary schools and held a ‘virtual GP surgery’. This included taking equipment to familiarise children with the environment with the aim of normalising GP services. First aid was also discussed with children.
They developed a Saturday opening pilot in Peterlee for 45,000 patients which has now run for 2 years.
Ends
For further information please contact CQC Regional Engagement Officer Kerri James by email kerri.james@cqc.org.uk or by phone on 07464 92 9966.
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The practice is extremely well-led, with management always pushing for continuous improvement. We saw staff that were highly motivated, going above and beyond what their jobs required to provide outstanding care
CQC’s Deputy Chief Inspector of General Practice in the North, Alison Holbourn