Leadership within a practice is one of the five mission critical areas the CQC asks about during its inspections. Falling fairly and squarely on the shoulders of GPs and practice managers, leadership can cover everything from staff mentoring to working closely with patient participation groups. It’s such a broad subject that it’s really hard to know where to start.

Thankfully, the CQC has just published an extremely useful collection of examples of outstanding practice that its inspectors have found in GP surgeries across England. The toolkit covers all areas of the inspections, including four examples of outstanding leadership. Two of those examples are:

1. Supporting colleagues through mentoring

A rural practice with 11,000 registered patients held a number of meetings every week to continuously improve how it delivered services to patients. Many of these meetings included external professionals, and patients were also invited as appropriate.

The practice provided mentoring for any GPs who had returned from long-term leave. This involved a named GP mentor, who provided reviews and consultations around any issues or concerns, and regular meetings to discuss progress and any additional breaks that may be needed in the returning GP’s schedule to ensure they could complete all the necessary work as quickly as possible. The programme was not time-limited and was developed and implemented around the needs of the GP. When the GP felt ready to resume their duties, they could go back to work as normal.

This is outstanding because the practice has a very supportive approach to development of staff.

2. Working closely with patient groups

An urban practice with 15,500 registered patients had an active PPG, Carer Support Group and Friends of St Thomas Health Centre Group. These groups of volunteers were co-ordinated by a member of staff at the practice. They influenced changes and improved services for patients at the practice by offering services to all patients or carers – especially those who were lonely or isolated.

For example, the Carers Support Group and Friends of St Thomas Health Centre groups offered lunch clubs for housebound patients, a telephone support service, sitting and befriending services, weekly social events and supported carers.

The Friends of the practice group was also involved in raising funds for the practice. They were able to buy an Entonox gas cylinder, which patients could use for pain relief during complex wound dressings, and they paid for transport and other practice maintenance.

This is outstanding because it is an example of a practice that has worked hard to engage its patient participation group, who as a result, provide an innovative range of services.

More examples

The brief case studies published by the CQC – read more at www.cqc.org.uk/outstandingprimarycare – provide an excellent insight into the CQC inspections so are well worth spending a few minutes reading. Professor Steve Field, Chief Inspector of General Practice at CQC, said: “It is great to see some of the fantastic examples of care our inspectors have found so far. These examples demonstrate where providers have gone above and beyond the regulations to deliver safe, compassionate, high-quality care that is responsive to the needs of their patients. I would urge GPs to look at this outstanding practice and learn from it so we can work together to improve the quality of care provided across the whole of England.”

While they may be asking practices plenty of questions about their leadership, it’s refreshing to see the CQC lead by example too.

What do you think of the short examples published online? Are they useful? Is it a smart move? Please share your comments below or in the Practice Index Forum.