Background to this inspection
Updated
26 November 2019
Audley Health Centre is located in North Staffordshire at Church Street, Audley, Stoke-on-Trent
Staffordshire, ST7 8EW. The practice has good transport links and there is a pharmacy adjacent to the health centre.
The provider is registered with the CQC to deliver the Regulated Activities; diagnostic & screening procedures, treatment of disease, disorder or injury, maternity and midwifery services, family planning and surgical procedures.
Audley Health Centre is situated within the North Staffordshire Clinical Commissioning Group (CCG) and provides services to approximately 10,046 patients under the terms of a General Medical Services (GMS) contract. A GMS contract is a contract between NHS England and general practices for delivering general medical services to the local community.
The practice employs two male GP partners and three female GP partners, two male salaried GPs, two male GP Registrars, a nurse practitioner, three practice nurses, a practice matron, two health care support assistants, one of whose role includes the elderly care facilitator, a practice manager and deputy practice manager and 10 administrative staff covering a range of hours.
The practice area is one of low deprivation when compared with the national and local CCG area.
Demographically the practice population distribution is comparable with the CCG and national averages. The general practice profile shows that the percentage of patients with a long-standing health condition is 53% which is comparable with the local CCG average of 55% and the national average of 51%. The National General Practice Profile describes the practice ethnicity as being 97.5% white British, 1.2% Asian, 0.3% black, 0.8% mixed and 0.1% other non-white ethnicities. Average life expectancy is 80 years for men and 83 years for women compared to the national average of 79 and 83 years respectively.
Updated
26 November 2019
We carried out a focused inspection at Audley Health Centre on 23 October 2019 as part of our inspection programme. Following our review of the information available to us, including information provided by the practice, we focused our inspection on the following key questions: safe, effective and well-led. Due to assurances we received from our review of information, we carried forward the ratings for the following key questions: caring and responsive from our last inspection in January 2015.
We based our judgement of the quality of care at this service on a combination of:
- what we found when we inspected
- information from our ongoing monitoring of data about services and
- information from the provider, patients, the public and other organisations.
We have rated this practice as outstanding overall and in each population group.
We found that:
- The practice provided care in a way that kept patients safe and protected them from avoidable harm.
- Patients received effective care and treatment that met their needs. Services had been tailored to meet the needs of the different population groups.
- Nine of the 10 quality indicators used to monitor the effectiveness of the care and treatment provided to patients were above the national average.
- There was a strong culture of collaboration with other services within the practice to improve the effectiveness of care and treatment provided to patients.
- Staff were supported to develop their roles and influence changes in primary care locally and nationally.
- The way the practice was led and managed promoted the delivery of high-quality, person-centre care.
- The patient participation group was very active and drove changes within the practice and primary care network.
We rated the practice as outstanding for providing effective services because:
- The practice had developed a dynamic approach to the review of National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) guidelines that included constructive challenge and feedback to NICE for areas of improvement.
- Clinical Commissioning Group data showed that the practice had been effective in reducing A&E attendances and non-elective admissions for older people.
- The practice had initiated new approaches to managing the health of diabetic and pre-diabetic patients. Their findings had been published in two national professional journals.
- Four of the six population groups were rated outstanding in effective due to improved positive outcomes for those groups of patients.
We rated the practice as outstanding for providing well-led services because:
- There was a strong culture of learning, innovation and recognition of staff achievements and contributions.
- There was a clear and proactive approach to seeking out new ways of providing care and treatment.
- The practice was not only proactive in managing, monitoring and improving outcomes for its own patients but it shared its learning locally and nationally to drive improvements within primary care.
Details of our findings and the evidence supporting our ratings are set out in the evidence tables.
Dr Rosie Benneyworth BM BS BMedSci MRCGP
Chief Inspector of Primary Medical Services and Integrated Care