The Care Quality Commission (CQC) has rated Clare House, in Tiverton, Devon, as outstanding for the second time following an inspection on 7 November last year.
Clare House, which has a branch site in Bampton, is an NHS GP run by Amicus Health. At the time of inspection 18,546 people were registered at the practice.
As well as the practice being re-rated outstanding overall, CQC has also re-rated it outstanding for being responsive. How caring the service is has increased from good to outstanding. CQC has again rated the practice good for being safe, well-led, and effective.
Catherine Campbell, CQC deputy director of operations in the south, said:
“At our inspection of Clare House, we found a practice who weren’t satisfied with just providing good care, but had worked incredibly hard to continuously improve, and as a result were providing outstanding care to the people it cared for.
“The practice had good leaders who had implemented strong systems and processes supporting staff at all levels to provide the best possible care. This included ensuring staff had clear responsibilities and roles and were held accountable to them.
"Leaders managed the practice well, identifying and acting on significant events, sharing learning with staff as needed. For example, someone had fainted in the reception area and staff were able to act quickly to get support for them, which demonstrated the practice’s procedure for managing an emergency worked well.
“People could access a range of appointments and received treatment in a timely way. Staff supported people to make decisions about their care and encouraged them to ask questions. The latest National GP Patient Survey showed satisfaction with the practice was above the national average in many areas, and we saw evidence they reviewed and responded to people’s feedback to make improvements.
“The practice also promoted continual learning among staff. Staff were given protected time for training and development and could pursue training in areas of interest such as asthma management and courses on specific conditions. This improved the level of specialist care they were able to offer people, resulting in better health and wellbeing outcomes.
“Everyone who works at Clare House should be extremely proud of the high-quality service they’re providing to local people. Other practices should look at this report to see if there’s anything they can learn.”
Inspectors found:
- People told inspectors they were treated with kindness and respect. Inspectors received 250 feedback forms from people who use the practice and all spoke positively about access, availability of appointments, and feeling involved in decisions about their treatment.
- The practice identified people who may need extra support and directed them to relevant services. They also ran groups where people could meet and learn about ways they could self-manage their condition, including a six-week programme for people with long term health conditions and mental health needs.
- Leaders were regularly auditing the practice to review its performance and make improvements.
- Medicines were managed safely. The practice had appropriate systems and processes in place to monitor people’s medicines as required.
- The practice carried out a range of health and safety checks to ensure the environment was suitable, including holding regular fire drills and checking the defibrillator battery was charged. Electrical equipment was tested for safety and measuring equipment was calibrated to ensure it was accurate.
The report will be published on CQC’s website in the coming days.
