Archived: Woodgate Valley Health Centre

Letter from the Chief Inspector of General Practice

We carried out an announced comprehensive inspection at Woodgate Valley Health Centre on 3 October 2016. 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 report incidents and near misses. All opportunities for learning from internal and external incidents were maximised.
• The practice used innovative methods to improve patient outcomes. Clinical audits had been triggered by new guidance and from learning from significant events.
• Staff assessed patients’ needs and delivered care in line with current evidence based guidance. Staff had been trained to provide them with the skills, knowledge and experience to deliver effective care and treatment.
• Patients said they were treated with compassion, dignity and respect and they were involved in their care and decisions about their treatment.
• The practice had good facilities and was well equipped to treat patients and meet their needs. Information about services and how to complain was available and easy to understand. Improvements were made to the quality of care as a result of complaints and concerns.
• Patients said they found it easy to make an appointment with a named GP and there was continuity of care, with urgent appointments available the same day.
• The practice had a clear vision which had quality and safety as its top priority. The strategy to deliver this vision had been produced with stakeholders and was regularly reviewed and discussed with staff.
• There was a clear leadership structure and staff felt supported by management. The practice proactively sought feedback from patients, which it acted on. The practice had patient participation group which supported practice development.
• The provider was aware of and complied with the requirements of the duty of candour.
• There was a strong team culture and the practice was cohesive and organised.

We saw areas of outstanding practice:

• The practice was innovative in initiating the programme and development of a protocol for the referral of patients to the practice for the initiation of insulin injectable therapy to optimise diabetic control and prevent secondary care referrals for patients with diabetes. Since May 2015, 50 patients had been referred to the practice from seven local practices. The practice introduced quarterly diabetic masterclasses, held with a professor and a member of the diabetic team from the University Hospital Birmingham. We saw evidence from the Clinical Commissioning Group and local practices indicating that the initiative was successful and had improved patient outcomes. Ninety five percent of patients experienced a reduction in their blood glucose levels and in the last year there had been an average of 4kg weight loss.

• The practice shared significant events cross the locality to share learning.The practice carried out a thorough analysis of the significant events, significant events were categorised and graded using a RAG (red, amber, green) rating tool. The incidents rated as red, were linked to the audit programme.

Professor Steve Field (CBE FRCP FFPH FRCGP) 

Chief Inspector of General Practice