Pear Tree Medical Centre has recently been awarded the prestigious “Outstanding” rating by the Care Quality Commission  ( CQC – independent regulator for quality in health and social care in England) which puts it in the top 4% of practices in the country.  The vast majority  receive a “Good” rating, with some on “Requires Improvement”, or “Inadequate”. The Practice, which is based in Normanton serves 4500 people across many different ethnic communities, languages, and backgrounds.

Mike Newbold , Practice/Business Manager for the Centre said:

“In the Normanton & Arboretum wards of Derby City we serve communities which are ranked as some of the most deprived in the country. Cases of chronic health conditions such as diabetes are considerably higher and average life expectancy can be as much as ten years less than a few miles up the road in other parts of the city and county. The challenge to improve health outcomes is significant.

We are delighted therefore that the Care Quality Commission has awarded the surgery its top mark of “Outstanding” for our care and services. The report highlights many areas of outstanding practice including health education and partnership work to address the health inequalities faced by our community. There is much work left to do but the CQC report indicates that we are achieving real progress.”

Mike Newbold, together with practice staff, at a health event at the Indian Community Centre

The CQC considered them to be “Outstanding” in the areas of  being  “Effective”, “Responsive” and  “Well-led”,  and “Good” in “ Safe” and “Caring”

All specific services that they deliver were considered to be outstanding, being in the areas of:

• Older People
• People with long term conditions
• Families, children and Young People
• Working age people
• People whose circumstances may make them vulnerable
• People experiencing poor mental health ( inc dementia)

Some notable comments from the Chief Inspector of General Practice on the Pear Tree Medical Centre:

Patients said they were treated with compassion, dignity and respect and they were involved in their care and decisions about their treatment.

We saw several examples of collaborative working and sharing of best practice to promote better health outcomes for patients. Specifically, ongoing health education programmes relating to cancer screening, diabetes, stroke and children’s health with demonstrable impact of positive outcomes being achieved for patients

Dr Singh from Pear Tree Medical Centre speaking at the Indian Community Centre

We saw several areas of outstanding practice including:

There was an open and transparent approach to safety and an effective system for managing and significant events

There was an on-going programme of patient education and wider external stakeholder engagement to tackle health inequalities affecting patients and the wider community

The practice held health educational meetings at least three times a year at the local community centre to improve the take up of breast and bowel screening

The practice used proactive methods to improve outcomes for patients living with and at risk of diabetes; taking into account their religion. For example: 30 patients had attended a health education event titled “managing your diabetes during Ramadan” at the practice

The practice proactively identified and supported its carers with support from Derbyshire Carers Association

Innovative approaches were used to gather feedback from the practice population. For example, the patient participation group (PPG) consisted of at least 30 active members… At the time of the inspection at least nine female members attended the meetings. This removed barriers to gender inequality and promoted holistic feedback for the practice team which it acted upon

The practice team had a proactive approach to understanding the cultural diversity and language needs of its practice population to ensure equal access to services and continuity of care. Since 2003, the practice has employed an interpreter (four days a week) who speaks Urdu, Mirpur Punjabi and Hindi and some other Asian dialects less proficiently.

Mike Newbold and Dr Singh presenting as part of the Cancer Awareness event at the Indian Community Centre

Conclusion

Being located in the heart of the Normanton/Arboretum, Pear Tree Medical Centre, along with the other medical practices in the area, have a particularly complex case load due to the nature of the demographics.  Partnering with other agencies in the locality is a key success factor for the Centre, as well as dealing constructively with the many cross-cultural and language challenges. This makes being considered  “Outstanding” an even more notable achievement and one which reflects the continued focus, dedication, and sensitivity of all staff involved towards their patients, and the community.

Postscript

Pear Tree Medical Centre is not the only practice in the City’s population of 26 GP practices that has an “Outstanding” rating. The others are:

Macklin Street Surgery

Wilson Street Surgery

Park Lane Surgery

Oakwood Surgery

It is important to note that Derby has a higher than average number of “Outstanding” GP practices (20%) compared to the country as a whole (4%).