A GP practice that looks after the health
needs of students of King’s College London will be presented with
an award for excellence by the Royal College of General
Practitioners (RCGP) today.
The King’s College Health Centre in Surrey
Street, London has striven for the past 18 months to attain a
Quality Practice Award (QPA) from the RCGP - proving the practice
offers a gold standard of service. The award also epitomises
the dedication shown by every member of the practice team to
providing outstanding care to their patients.
Students at the university are looked after by
a team of five GPs, seven nurses and an administrative team of
six. All the GPs also have their own special interests
catered towards the students needs including mental health, stress
management, student health, complementary medicine, relaxation and
yoga, and health promotion.
Commenting on achieving the award, Dr Derek
Chase, Principal GP at King’s College Health Centre, said: “We are
delighted to have achieved this award. Being a nurse led service,
it is particularly gratifying that we have been able to meet all
the clinical standards required which reflects on the quality of
the staff and the ability to work closely together as a team”.
The QPA plaque will be presented to the King’s
College Health Centre on Tuesday 13 February. Professor Sir
Graeme Catto, President of the GMC, will make the presentation at
7pm.
Ends
Press contact Heather Whitney, RCGP
Press Office, Tel: 020 7344 3137 press@rcgp.org.uk
Notes to editors
Journalists and photographers are welcome to
attend the presentation which last around an hour – the practice
will need to know the numbers of attendees expected so please try
and contact the RCGP Press Office first.
King’s College NHS Health Centre, 3rd Floor
Macadam Building, Kings College London, The Strand, London WC2R 2LS
www.kcl.ac.uk/health
More information on Quality Practice
Awards
Each practice is required to submit a
portfolio of written evidence set against 23 sets of criteria
including Health Promotion, Patient and Public Involvement and Team
Working.
When written evidence is complete, a full day
assessment visit is conducted by a panel of four, comprising of
GPs, Nurses, Managers and Lay Assessors. The assessors interview
the team and inspect the practice premises, systems and medical
records. At the end of the visit, the assessors give feedback to
the team on their achievement and make recommendations for
continuing improvement.
Practices achieving QPA have found that the
process engenders a real sense of team spirit, pride in each
other's areas of work and an improved understanding of working
together towards a better environment for patients and staff. The
criteria is continually modified and developed further to reflect
the ongoing changes in general practice. Practices who undertake
the assessment are therefore actively encouraged to feed into the
development process.
The Royal College of General Practitioners
(RCGP) is the largest membership organisation in the United Kingdom
solely for GPs. It aims to encourage and maintain the highest
standards of general medical practice and to act as the “voice” of
GPs on issues concerned with education, training, research, and
clinical standards. Founded in 1952, the RCGP has over 25,000
members who are committed to improving patient care, developing
their own skills and promoting general practice as a discipline.
http://www.rcgp.org.uk/