A practice previously rated ‘good’ by the Care Quality Commission (CQC) has been awarded an ‘outstanding’ by the independent regulator of health and social care services, following their latest inspection in November 2017.
Irwell Medical Practice in Bacup, Lancashire was rated ‘outstanding overall’, despite still receiving three ‘good’ for ‘safe’, ‘effective’ and ‘responsive’.
The practice provides services under a General Medical Services (GMS) contract for 14,300 patients and has six female GPs and three male GPs.
The report found that the practice had a system in place to manage risks, making safety incidents unlikely to happen.
Beyond valuing and taking patients’ feedback into account, the CQC also found that the practice had a ‘yellow card scheme in place’ that helped patients seek private assistance from the receptionists.
The report said: ‘If a patient wished to speak in private, the yellow cards were available on each reception desk. They did not have to say anything, but instead hand a yellow card to the receptionist who would arrange a confidential room for the patient to speak to staff.’
CQC’s deputy chief inspector of general practice said Alison Holbourn said: ‘The practice is extremely well-led, with management always pushing for continuous improvement with measurable improvements to patient care.
‘We saw a new service where a nurse provided additional clinical care for patients in nursing and residential homes in Rossendale to reduce avoidable hospital admissions.’
Practice Operations Manager at Irwell Medical Practice Jessica Aspinall said she was pleased with the CQC report.
She said: ‘The staff and partners are committed to providing high quality and caring services to our patients. The partners and management are extremely proud of the hard work and professionalism the staff provide on a daily basis.
‘The practice’s motto is ‘we strive to be the very best that we can be’ and we feel this is reflected in the CQC report.’
