Good Business Practice Outstanding; defined as ‘clearly much better than what is usual’. As of 31 July 2018, 91% of GP services in England were rated as ‘good’ by the Care Quality Commission (CQC) with 5% rated as ‘outstanding’. Considering these figures that seems like a very fitting description. But what does it take to be outstanding?
H
ealthcare Provider AT Medics run 40 primary care services in London (four of which have an outstanding CQC rating) discusses their approach to becoming ‘outstanding’. Despite having five standards, and a range of criteria in order to meet those standards, achieving an outstanding CQC rating is far from a tick-box exercise. It has to be approached with pride and confidence rather than dread. I once heard someone suggest that the difference between providers with outstanding ratings was based on how they viewed inspections. If the entire team sees an inspection as an opportunity to showcase the positive work they are doing then it is this team that is likely to see an outstanding rating. This is an interesting theory and certainly one that rings true at AT Medics. We are confident in the services we provide and take pride in the difference we make to our patients lives every day. So back to the question…what does it take to achieve an ‘outstanding’ CQC rating? It might sound a strange place to start considering we are discussing how to be ‘clearly much better than usual’ but the recognition and acceptance of error goes a long way towards achieving greatness (from a CQC perspective). The reality is that, sometimes, things go wrong. It is important to be accepting of this fact and ensure that there are effective systems in place that allow for the reporting and recording of these issues. Above and beyond this, any issues need to be handled in a transparent and honest manner. At AT Medics we strive to inform patients as soon as possible, provide an honest and open dialogue, support and a written apology. I appreciate that this isn’t always easy. Unfortunately fear is alive and kicking but, I believe, the courage to admit mistakes comes from positive leadership. In addition to having the right processes and procedures that not only flag, but then prevent further issues you also have to have a leadership approach that embraces openness and honesty. Staff need to feel confident that they will find a supportive listener if they
08
identify that mistakes have occurred. Resilient people aren’t afraid to admit they have weaknesses but, instead, learn from them and use them to drive improvements. Resilience is something that is required in bucketloads in the present economic and political climate. How else can we expect to improve or, at the very least, maintain standards despite increasing demands and budgetary pressures if we don’t show resilience? We have been able to ensure this through the development of bespoke solutions that enable us to have relevant data and analytics at our fingertips. One of the issues, often, with scale is that you begin to lose sight of the detail. We have turned this on its head by having a ‘Hub and Spoke’ model where, for every seven practices, we have a centralised resource which monitors performance and is able to identify when extra resources are required. With a supportive environment also comes morale. I defy any organisation to achieve an outstanding rating without first having focussed on the team within. According to the CQC themselves, deterioration in CQC ratings can be attributed to the poor management of staffing levels, staff deployment, training and turnover. It doesn’t take a genius to figure out that unhappy staff are unlikely to provide a welcoming and engaging environment for patients.
Dr. Aumran Tahir
Founder & Director of AT Medics Dr. Tahir is directly responsible for two of the four ‘Outstanding’ AT Medics’ practices.
For further information on AT Medics: www.atmedics.com www.attech.london info@atmedics.com
