This practice is rated as Good overall (Previous rating October 2015 Good)

The key questions are rated as:

Are services safe? – Good

Are services effective? – Good

Are services caring? – Outstanding

Are services responsive? – Good

Are services well-led? - Good

We carried out an announced comprehensive inspection at Awburn House Medical Practice on 5 December 2018 as part of our inspection programme.

At this inspection we found:

• The practice had clear systems to manage risk so that safety incidents were less likely to happen. When incidents did happen, the practice learned from them and improved their processes.
• The practice had clear systems in place to safeguard children and vulnerable adults from abuse and support vulnerable patients.
• The practice routinely reviewed the effectiveness and appropriateness of the care it provided. It ensured that care and treatment was delivered according to evidence- based guidelines.
• Staff involved and treated patients with compassion, kindness, dignity and respect. We saw a strong culture of providing person centred care demonstrated by all staff, this was also supported by data seen from patient surveys and comment cards received.
• Patients found the appointment system easy to use and valued the morning open surgery. Feedback from patients in relation to access was very positive for example, the percentage of respondents to the GP patient survey who responded positively to how easy it was to get through to someone at their GP practice on the phone (01/01/2018 to 31/03/2018) was 99% compared to the England average of 70%.
• There was a strong focus on continuous learning and improvement at all levels of the organisation.

We saw some outstanding features within the practice:

• There was a strong, visible person-centred culture where staff were motivated and inspired to offer care that was kind, respectful and promoted people’s dignity and independence. They worked in partnership with patients, carers and other health and social care providers to develop services and we were provided with numerous examples of how the positive attitude towards patients and carers impacted on people.
• The practice funded a physiotherapy and podiatry team to provide services in house and could offer a falls assessment service, pulmonary rehabilitation and treat musculoskeletal injuries. Data provided by the practice showed patients were routinely seen and assessed within two weeks and achieved positive outcomes. Feedback from patients was positive with 100% of patients felt their practitioner had helped them.
• Supporting patients with learning disabilities. This work was led by the practice nurse who not only invited adults in for health checks but had also developed a scheme to invite children and their carers with learning disabilities in for reviews. Initial feedback from patients and their carers was positive as they felt it helped children familiarise themselves with the practice and staff, but also helped staff get to know the needs of patients.

Professor Steve Field CBE FRCP FFPH FRCGP

Chief Inspector of General Practice

Awburn House Medical Practice provides care for 7200 patients in Mottram, Hyde in Cheshire. The practice provides placements for General Practitioner trainees.

During our visit we spoke with General Practitioners (GPs), the Practice Manager, the Practice Nurse, administration staff and five patients.

All the patients we spoke with were very complimentary about the service they received. We reviewed the results of a recent patient questionnaire and patient comment cards and there provided positive feedback on the service.

The GPs at the practice are accessible to patients during regular working hours and there was an out of hour’s service provided by Go to Doc when the practice was closed. Staff found the management team of the practice to be very approachable.

Clinical decisions followed best practice guidelines.

The leadership team are approachable and visible. There are appropriate governance and risk management measures in place.

The practice is registered with the Care Quality Commission to deliver care under the following regulated activities: Diagnostic and screening procedures, family planning, maternity and midwifery services and treatment of disease and disorder.

Letter from the Chief Inspector of General Practice

We carried out an announced comprehensive inspection at Awburn House Medical Practice on 19 November 2015. Overall the practice is rated as good.

Our key findings across all the areas we inspected were as follows:

• Staff understood and fulfilled their responsibilities to raise concerns and to report incidents and near misses. Information about safety was recorded, monitored, appropriately reviewed and addressed.
• Risks to patients were assessed and well managed, including those relating to recruitment checks.
• Patients’ needs were assessed and care was planned and delivered following best practice guidance. Staff had received training appropriate to their roles and any further training needs had been identified and planned.

• Patients said they were treated with compassion, dignity and respect and they were involved in their care and decisions about their treatment.
• Information about services and how to complain was available and easy to understand.
• Patients said they found it was easy to make an appointment with a GP and appreciated the ease of access via the open surgery.
• Urgent appointments were available the same day.
• 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.

We saw areas of outstanding practice including:

• The practice had introduced a register of all vulnerable patients, patients on the register would be reviewed at weekly clinical meetings. Every month if patients had not been in contact with the surgery, the nurse or health care assistant would make contact or provide a home visit to ensure patients were safe.

• As part of the work carried out to improve end of life care the practice have worked with local residential care home to produce a template care plan that can be seamlessly implemented when patients move into the home and register with the practice.

Professor Steve Field (CBE FRCP FFPH FRCGP) 

Chief Inspector of General Practice