Stalybridge medical practice rated as Outstanding by the Care Quality Commission

The Care Quality Commission has found the quality of care provided by The Lockside Medical Centre, Stalybridge to be Outstanding following an inspection carried out in July 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.

The practice had good facilities and was well equipped to treat patients and meet their needs. There was a clear leadership structure and staff felt supported by management. The practice proactively sought feedback from staff and patients, which it acted on.

Data showed patient outcomes were above those locally and nationally, including unplanned hospital admissions. Feedback from patients about their care was consistently and strongly positive.

The report on the Lockside Medical Centre highlights a number of areas of outstanding practice including:

• Data that showed the practice was performing highly when compared to practices nationally. For example, performance for diabetes related indicators were above the CCG and national average at 99.97% (9.3% above the CCG average and 10.8% above the England average.) Inspectors also saw evidence that the practice had lower than the local average of unplanned hospital admissions.
• Inspectors could see that staff treated patients with kindness and respect and maintained confidentiality. The practice valued continuity of care for patients. Data from the GP national survey published in July 2016 showed that 83% of patients stated they were able to see their usual GP compared to the CCG average (60%) and national average (59%). Information for patients about services available was easy to understand and accessible.
• There were innovative approaches to providing integrated patient-centred care. For example; adding additional surgeries to meet needs; providing a range of extended services in-house; arranging additional support to those patients over 75 years of age and patients with long term health conditions.
• Patients could, in addition, access appointments and services in a way and at a time that suited them. This included an unlimited access to GP appointments when clinically indicated.

Beverley Cole, Head of General Practice in the North for CQC said:

“This is an excellent practice, delivering top quality care in Stalybridge with a focus on its patients and population groups. Indeed, of the six population groups we assess against, the practice was rated Outstanding in all six.

“The practice was well equipped and very well-led, patients found it straightforward to get an appointment and were flexible in the way that they ran their appointments system.

“At a time when a great deal of focus is being placed on discharge arrangements, I was interested to see that one GP at the practice carried out ward rounds within local residential homes and in-reach on wards within Tameside General Hospital. As a result of this work the practice had improved communication with hospital discharge managers and residential care staff resulting in better outcomes for patients and early discharge from hospital.

“The practice was doing excellent work in the area of health promotion and prevention. For example, patients who may be in need of extra support were identified by the practice, including patients in the last 12 months of their lives, carers, those at risk of developing a long-term condition, patients with poor mental health and those requiring advice on their diet and smoking and alcohol cessation.

“Patients who were in need of the extra support were identified and where they required emotional and or psychological support the practice referred them to the Healthy Minds service.

“This is, very evidently, a service that is going the extra mile, delivering services in an exemplary fashion. From all that we witnessed the efforts being made by all that work at Lockside Medical Centre, is clearly paying off which is why we have found this practice to be Outstanding.”

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