The Care Quality Commission
  • Doctor
  • GP practice

Staffa Health

Overall: Outstanding read more about inspection ratings

3 Waverley Street, Tibshelf, Alfreton, Derbyshire, DE55 5PS (01773) 309030

Provided and run by:
Staffa Health

All Inspections

6 July 2023

During a monthly review of our data

We carried out a review of the data available to us about Staffa Health on 6 July 2023. We have not found evidence that we need to carry out an inspection or reassess our rating at this stage.

This could change at any time if we receive new information. We will continue to monitor data about this service.

If you have concerns about Staffa Health, you can give feedback on this service.

9,11 and 12 January 2023

During a routine inspection

We carried out an announced comprehensive inspection at Staffa Health on 9, 11 and 12 January 2023. Overall, the practice is rated as outstanding. We rated the key questions safe, caring and responsive as good and effective and well-led as outstanding.

Following our previous inspection on 17 September 2015, the practice was rated outstanding overall and for the key questions responsive and well-led. It was rated as good for the key questions safe, effective and caring.

The full reports for previous inspections can be found by selecting the ‘all reports’ link for Staffa Health on our website at www.cqc.org.uk

Why we carried out this inspection

We carried out this inspection in line with our inspection priorities at the time of the inspection. The key questions we inspected were safe, effective, caring, responsive and well-led.

How we carried out the inspection

This inspection was carried out in a way which enabled us to spend a minimum amount of time on site.

This included:

  • Conducting staff interviews using video conferencing.
  • Completing clinical searches on the practice’s patient records system (this was with consent from the provider and in line with all data protection and information governance requirements).
  • Reviewing patients’ records to identify issues and clarify actions taken by the provider.
  • Requesting evidence from the provider.
  • A site visit to the main and 2 branch practices.
  • An interview with a member of the Patient Participation Group
  • Interviews with care homes where the practice provided care and treatment.

Our findings

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
  • information from the provider, patients, the public and other organisations including Healthwatch and Derby and Derbyshire Integrated Care Board.

We found that:

  • The practice provided care and treatment in a way that kept patients safe and protected them from avoidable harm.
  • There was an effective system in place for reviewing significant events and innovative ways of sharing this learning with staff and patients.
  • Staff dealt with patients with kindness and respect and involved them in decisions about their care.
  • The provider had considered their demographics, the needs of their patient population and disease prevalence. Due to a higher than average older population, the practice had developed a bespoke home visiting team for house bound patients to provide improved continuity and quality of care.
  • There was a system in place to monitor and respond to peak times of demand for telephone access and demand for appointments and systems to monitor patient satisfaction with access to appointments and online facilities. Learning from these systems was implemented to improve the overall patient experience.

We rated the key question effective as outstanding because:

There was a holistic approach to assessing, planning and delivering care and treatment to patients to improve health outcomes:

  • The practice had extended their home visiting service and team to support housebound patients who were unable to attend the practice for a review of their long-term conditions. The provider had reviewed nationally published data which demonstrated the effectiveness of this service in reducing unplanned hospital admissions for vulnerable housebound patients. A representative from Derby and Derbyshire Integrated Care Board informed us that Staffa Health had been pioneers of this model of care which had influenced other service providers both locally and nationally.
  • The practice had supported a GP to develop the role of a menopause champion to support staff and patients at the practice.
  • The practice’s cancer champion sent letters and information leaflets to newly diagnosed patients with cancer and offered a cancer care review with a GP and supportive telephone calls. The champion had established a cancer support network for patients to attend for support or to share their fears and experiences.
  • The practice had gained accreditation from the Royal College of General Practitioners (RCGP) for being an active practice, an initiative to address sedentary lifestyles which have negative impacts on the health, social and economic outcomes for individuals and communities. The practice had partnered with Bolsover District Council Physical and Lifestyle services to establish a gymnasium within the Tibshelf Practice where patients prescribed exercise by their GP could attend for 12 supervised training sessions.

We rated the key question well-led as outstanding because:

  • There was a very strong commitment to supporting staff well-being. For example, wellbeing champions, a menopause champion, yoga and aerobic sessions for staff, a free wellbeing raffle and an acknowledgement by the GP partners of the demands on on-call GPs and an offer to remove this stress for salaried GPs.
  • Feedback from the Patient Participation Group (PPG) was extremely positive. There were many examples of where the practice had worked closely with the PPG to improve the service for patients. For example, a carer’s plan, improving accessibility for patients with limited IT literacy and analysis of trends in complaints.
  • Leaders drove continuous improvement for patients and staff. Staff innovation was encouraged, supported and celebrated by the leaders.
  • There was clear evidence of continuous improvement and change. For example, the home visiting service, accreditation for being an active practice, influencing of local engagement processes in carrying out service wide consultations with patients.
  • There was a culture of learning, evolving and sharing learning with others.

Whilst we found no breaches of regulations, the provider should:

  • Embed into practice formal clinical supervision for non-medical prescribers.
  • Embed into practice a mechanism to review asthma patients within 48 hours of being prescribed rescue steroids.
  • Continue to make improvements to increase the cervical screening uptake within the practice.

Details of our findings and the evidence supporting our ratings are set out in the evidence tables.

Dr Sean O’Kelly BSc MB ChB MSc DCH FRCA

Chief Inspector of Hospitals and Interim Chief Inspector of Primary Medical Services

17 September 2015

During a routine inspection

Letter from the Chief Inspector of General Practice

We carried out an announced comprehensive inspection at Staffa Health on 17 September 2015. Staffa Health provides services from a main surgery at Tibshelf and three branch surgeries at Pilsley, Stonebroom and Holmewood. Overall the practice is rated as outstanding.

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

  • The practice had robust arrangements in place to deal with information about safety. Staff were aware of their responsibilities to report incidents and concerns and knew how to do this. Information about safety was thoroughly documented and monitored. The practice had systems in place to maximise learning from significant events and incidents.
  • Risks to patients were assessed and well managed across the four practice sites. Staff could access information about health and safety online or via the staff health and safety noticeboard.
  • The practice demonstrated the use of best practice guidance to assess patients’ needs and plan their care. Staff had received relevant role specific training and further training needs were identified through an appraisal system and a training needs analysis.
  • Feedback from patients was positive about the practice. Patients told us they were treated with dignity and respect and supported to make decisions about their care and treatment.
  • The practice had developed clear and accessible processes to encourage patient feedback. Information on changes made as a result of patient feedback was shared with patients on noticeboards in the waiting area. The practice encouraged feedback from patients.
  • Feedback from patients demonstrated that there was good access to the practice. Pre-booked appointments were available up to five weeks in advance with urgent appointments available on the same day. Patients could access appointments at any of the four sites.
  • The practice had good facilities and was well equipped to meet the needs of patients.
  • There was a very clear leadership structure and staff felt supported by management. The practice proactively sought feedback from staff and patients, which it acted on.

We saw several areas of outstanding practice:

  • In response to high rates of emergency admissions linked to falls, the practice had introduced the Otago Falls Prevention programme. This had a positive impact on the practice patients and we saw evidence to demonstrate a decrease in the number of falls related admissions to hospital.

  • The practice employed a care coordinator and a health needs support worker to ensure that multidisciplinary care their patients received was integrated and well-coordinated. This ensured an effective link between health services, social care services and the voluntary sector.

  • The practice continuously improved the way it delivered services by proactively identifying learning from a range of sources. Sources included patient feedback, complaints, significant events and a rolling programme of audit.

  • The practice ensured learning from significant events and complaints was maximised and shared with all staff. The practice had introduced a quarterly lessons learned newsletter for staff.

  • The practice had a clear vision which was shared with staff and patients; we saw that this vision was reflected in the practice’s plans for the future and was central to the care provided to patients.

Professor Steve Field (CBE FRCP FFPH FRCGP) 

Chief Inspector of General Practice