The Greenhouse GP Practice, an AT Medics GP Practice in Hackney, was rated overall Outstanding for being safe, responsive and well-led by the Care Quality Commission, and was rated Good for being effective and caring. The Greenhouse GP Practice specifically delivers NHS Primary Care services, as well as housing and welfare advice provided by a collocated service, for homeless people in Hackney.

AT Medics commenced a caretaker management arrangement at The Greenhouse on Friday 1st April 2016, and also manages the nearby Trowbridge Surgery in Hackney, having achieved a huge clinical improvement and turnaround, and in particular a reputation for safeguarding the vulnerable. AT Medics was therefore well placed and experienced to work with and improve the health outcomes for patients at The Greenhouse.

According to a report by Homeless Link, 41% of homeless people reported a long-term physical health problem compared to just 28% of the general population, whilst 45% had been diagnosed with a mental health problem compared with just 25% of the general public, and 35% do not eat at least two meals a day.

AT Medics has been tackling these issues head on, with better continuity of patient care and working closely with other local health providers to develop existing and new services based on a better understanding of patient needs.

 

Professor Ursula Gallagher, CQC Deputy Chief Inspector of GP Practices, said: 

“The work done at The Greenhouse Practice is inspirational and it thoroughly deserves its Outstanding rating.

“Feedback from patients about their care was consistently positive. There was a strong, open and embedded culture at the practice in respect of patient safety and the practice used every opportunity to learn from incidents. We observed a genuine open culture in which all safety concerns raised by staff were highly valued and integral to learning and improvement.

“All staff were encouraged to participate in learning and to improve safety as much as possible.”

 

Dr Muneeb Choudhry, Clinical Director at The Greenhouse GP Practice, said:

“It’s both an honour and great pleasure to receive this special accolade. A CQC Outstanding rating for me is a celebration of the continued efforts of our whole team at The Greenhouse GP Practice, an AT Medics practice. Our team aspires to being outstanding every day, and it’s wonderful that they have been recognised as such by the CQC, and in particular the feedback from patients that has been noted in the report is indicative of the wonderful service our team deliver.

“This is the fourth Outstanding rating that we have achieved as an organisation, and I believe The Greenhouse’s rating is particularly important due to the unique and specific care that we deliver to homeless people. A special thank you to our dedicated and hard-working clinicians and ancillary team for making this all possible.

“Our organisational ethos is based upon delivering high quality care focused on patient needs and safety. AT Medics pushes the boundaries of clinical improvement by implementing quality systems and continually reviewing and investing in training and education of our staff. It is this ethos that has led to our rating and we see the same trends throughout our practices, as an organisation that truly has its patients and quality care at the forefront of its service delivery.

“We also invest in learning more about our patients. For example, we know through patient engagement activities such as our Health and Wellness Open Day at The Greenhouse that patients wanted access to free meals, and so we teamed up with Pret Foundation to deliver this daily. This has created a step-change in the way in which we are able to work with some of the most vulnerable members of our community in Hackney.”

AT Medics, who manage The Greenhouse GP Practice, deliver NHS Primary Care services across 37 practices in London, and this is their fourth CQC ‘Outstanding’ rating since 2015.

CQC inspectors noted many areas of Outstanding care, including:

  • The practice did not place a limit on the number of walk-in appointments available on any day so that patients who found it difficult to book appointments in advance or who struggled to adhere to scheduled appointments, could access GP services in a way that suited them.
  • A specialist substance and alcohol misuse clinician at the practice offered and delivered alcohol and substance reduction programmes.
  • The practice had reviewed the patient list within the previous year and had identified an increasing number of Polish and Vietnamese speaking patients registering. It had arranged for a Vietnamese speaking interpreter from a local hospital to attend the practice weekly and had employed its own Polish speaking translator who also attended the practice one day per week. Patients said this had significantly improved their access to health services.

 

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