Leeds General Practice Confederation

This service is rated as Outstanding overall.

The key questions are rated as:

Are services safe? – Good

Are services effective? – Outstanding

Are services caring? – Good

Are services responsive? – Good

Are services well-led? – Outstanding

We carried out an announced comprehensive inspection at Leeds GP Confederation between 2 and 22 September 2023. This was the first inspection of this provider since their registration with the Care Quality Commission in December 2018.

The Head of Operations is the registered manager. A registered manager is a person who is registered with the Care Quality Commission to manage the service. Like registered providers, they are ‘registered persons’. Registered persons have legal responsibility for meeting the requirements in the Health and Social Care Act 2008 and associated Regulations about how the service is run.

Our key findings were:

• The provider proactively worked with other providers to provide effective care and treatment to the local population by supporting practices within the member primary care networks and the wider health economy.
• The provider had systems and processes in place to maintain oversight of all of the hub locations it operated from, this included premises, health and safety and infection prevention and control.
• The provider had systems in place to keep patients and staff safeguarded from abuse.
• The provider was committed to continuous learning and improvement, we saw evidence of learning through audit activity, and learning from incidents and complaints. Training and support was provided to staff internally and the member primary care networks.
• Feedback from staff regarding the culture of the service was overwhelmingly positive. We heard examples of how staff looked forward to coming to work, felt supported both within their roles and personally and had access to supervision during all hours of the service provided.
• The provider proactively sought feedback from patients regarding services. We saw that patient feedback was generally positive. Where less favourable feedback was received, we saw that the provider had listened to this, and had taken action to improve.
• The provider had a clear vision, all of the staff we spoke with and received feedback from demonstrated their commitment and understanding to the vision and expected behaviours.

We saw the following outstanding practice:

• The provider demonstrated a commitment to supporting the wider health economy to reduce demand on services such as emergency departments and general practice.
• The provider had a good understanding of the needs of the local population. Individualised service level agreements were in place for each of the member primary care networks, giving the flexibility to utilise the enhanced access service to focus on areas of lower performance.

• Staff were proud of the organisation as a place to work and speak highly of the culture. All of the staff we spoke with or received feedback from were proud to work for the service. Many staff members told us they enjoyed coming to work and that it was the best place they had worked.

Dr Sean O’Kelly BSc MB ChB MSc DCH FRCA

Chief Inspector of Health Care