Published: 9 July, 2019

gtd healthcare’s urgent and out-of-hours service has received an ‘Outstanding’ rating for ‘Well-led’, following a recent Care Quality Commission (CQC) inspection.

Following gtd healthcare’s relocation of its head office in 2018, the CQC undertook a detailed two-day inspection of the ‘Well-led’ domain.

The inspectors documented that leadership, governance and culture were driving and improving the delivery of high-quality, person-centred care, all of which contributed towards the ‘Outstanding’ rating.

However, David Becket, gtd healthcare’s chief executive, is keen to highlight that outstanding leadership is only possible with an outstanding workforce.

"I am obviously absolutely delighted with this new rating for ‘Well-led’ but this is very much a reflection on the exceptional workforce at gtd healthcare who show continuous compassion and dedication to patients and colleagues alike,” he said.

"Our ethos at gtd is to encourage leadership at every level throughout the organisation and I’m delighted the CQC team has recognised the amount of work done to stimulate and then embed this leadership culture. It really couldn’t have been achieved without our people and teams embracing this philosophy, and showing how it can make a real difference to improving outcomes for patients.”

The Clinical Hub, which is based at head office and the services that operate from Ashton Primary Care Centre were inspected, along with central management services and systems.

The report highlights feedback from front-line staff, which included "the leadership team inspired them to deliver the best care and motivated them to succeed; there was good collaboration to support patients to have good care and treatment; they valued having senior clinicians and managers accessible during peak times to offer guidance and support; they were proud of the organisation, spoke highly of the culture; and were committed to the organisation’s values”.

Professional development is a key area of importance within the report with the inspectors stating that clinical staff, including nurses, are given protected time for professional development and evaluation of their clinical work. The nursing staff the inspectors spoke with said, they were "encouraged to develop and become experts in their own field”.

Additional key areas of outstanding practice that are highlighted in the report include:

  • gtd healthcare has effective processes to develop leadership capacity and skills, including planning for the future leadership of the service.
  • gtd healthcare has created an organisation development strategy with agreed work-streams. Since the strategy’s publication, the organisation has signed up to a Workplace Wellbeing Charter accreditation standards.
  • There is a strong culture of improving outcomes for patients and this is reflected in the way managers, staff and board members demonstrated the core values.
  • Staff feel respected, supported and valued. They are proud to work for the service.
  • There is a strong culture of innovation evidenced by a number of new and pilot schemes.

David Beckett concluded: "My sincerest thanks to all our people across the organisation who work incredibly hard and with such dedication to provide the best possible care and put patients first.

"As a values driven organisation, it’s extremely heart-warming to see how everyone’s understanding of the organisation’s vision, values and their role in achieving them is a feature throughout the report.”

The full report is available here.