A GP practice group that runs eight GP practices across Airedale Wharfedale and Craven has been rated outstanding by the Care Quality Commission, in recognition of the responsiveness of their services and the leadership team.
The outstanding rating has been awarded to the Modality AWC Partnership that covers the Haworth, Oakworth Kilmeny, Holycroft Farfield, Silsden Crosshills and Fisher surgeries.
The Modality AWC Partnership has been working hard to bring services to patients including running health checks at community events such as Parkrun and an innovative outreach programme to successfully deliver the Covid vaccine to local people. This included the first ever women’s only clinic and a successful partnership with the Emily Street mosque resulting in over 50,000 vaccines being delivered.
The rating comes at a time when health and care services, including those provided by GP practices, are experiencing unprecedented demand. This has been highlighted by the inspection report with recognition that access remains an issue for patients, which the Modality Group are working to address.
Brendan Kennedy Executive partner of the Modality AWC Partnership and a local GP for over 20 years said: “This result really is a great testimony to all the hard work that has been undertaken by every member of our team over the last five years since we merged to form the Modality AWC division. We recognised at that time that primary care nationally needed to change, and an alternative approach had to be taken if, as practices, we were going to survive in the long term with rising demand, increasing complexity compounded with a reducing and aging workforce of GPs. Since coming together, we have been able to expand our team and diversify, bringing new professions into primary care to provide more appropriate care to our patients.
“We still have a long way to go and the CQC highlighted our need to improve access and patient satisfaction. We have recognised this already and feel we also need to improve continuity of care for patients as well. We will not be resting on our laurels but will continue to strive to improve services.
“In the meantime, we will continue to support our patients understand how they can make the best use of our services. This includes understanding when they will be seen by a healthcare professional, other than a GP such as a pharmacist or a social prescriber as well as encouraging people to use online services for example to order repeat prescriptions. By taking these steps we can work with our patients to improve everyone’s experience of care.”
Mel Pickup, Place Lead for Bradford District and Craven Health and Care Partnership and Chief Executive for Bradford Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust, added: “I’m pleased to see such a positive outcome following the CQC inspection for the Modality AWC Partnership. I recognise the hard work that results in any health and care provider receiving an outstanding rating and this reflects on the dedication and commitment of colleagues working hard to deliver services at a time of significant demand and pressures across health and care.
“Whilst GP practices continue to face significant challenges with increasing demand on their services, they are having more daily contacts with patients now than they did before the pandemic. We will work with Modality AWC Partnership and other health and care providers to respond to the concerns people have shared around accessing services while also recognising where we can learn from some of the innovative approaches we have seen from Modality AWC Partnership. The hard works starts now so that we can help ensure the outstanding rating is achieved again.”
A copy of the full inspection report is available on the CQC’s website