The Lighthouse Medical Practice rated Outstanding by the Care Quality Commission

The Care Quality Commission (CQC) has rated the care provided at The Lighthouse Medical Practice in Eastbourne as Outstanding overall, following an inspection in June 2016.

The service was rated Outstanding for being safe, responsive to people’s needs and well-led and Good for being effective and caring.

A full report of the inspection has been published today at: www.cqc.org.uk/location/1-569736899

Professor Steve Field, Chief Inspector of General Practice said:

“I am delighted to highlight the exceptional service at The Lighthouse Medical Practice, people are entitled to services which provide safe, effective, compassionate and high quality care. The GPs and staff at The Lighthouse Medical Practice have demonstrated a real commitment to their patients. All of this hard work and dedication pays off in making a real difference for their patients – which is why we have found this practice to be Outstanding. I hope other practices will see this as a model for excellent care.”

Ruth Rankine, Deputy Chief Inspector of General Practice in the South Region, said:

“It is clear The Lighthouse Medical Practice is providing an excellent service and is a real asset to the people living in this part of East Sussex.

“The practice had a clear vision, which had being responsive to people’s needs as its top priority and this is reflected in everything that they do.

“There was a strong desire to learn at the practice and to improve patient care and staff were engaged and committed to improving quality of care by learning from every opportunity and this was underpinned by their clear vision and strategy for the practice.

“This is a great example of what outstanding care looks like.”

The report highlights a number of areas of outstanding practice, including:

• Patients, nursing home staff and members of the wider multi-disciplinary team were invited to attend the section of significant events meetings that they were involved in, ensuring transparency throughout the process.
• The GP lead in information technology (IT) and the practice clinical governance lead devised a robust system of ‘spiral audit’ whereby areas of clinical activity could be examined, reviewed and acted on a continuous basis.
• The practice had identified a high proportion of carers amongst their patients and had both a practice carers’ lead and a patient forum carers’ lead as well as a patients’ lead. They worked together with the practice team to identify and support carers. The practice was pro-active in identifying young carers. An extensive carers’ protocol was available on the website.
• The practice was responsive to individual needs, including; disabled facilities, a wheelchair lift, an understanding of religions, and had key communication skills for differing ethnicities, various disabilities, illnesses, age groups, genders and sexual orientation. A chaplain was also attached to the practice who could be contacted by people of all and no religion, faith or belief.