Exmouth GP practice that set up refugee outreach clinic rated 'outstanding' by CQC

Exmouth GP practice Rolle Medical Partnership has been rated 'outstanding' by the Care Quality Commission in a recent inspection, in part thanks to its treatment of refugees in the town.

When Afghan refugees arrived in Exmouth in September 2021, it set up an outreach clinic at a local hotel where they were staying "to build relationships and ensure they understood how to access services".

There are a number of Afghan and Ukrainian refugees registered at the practice currently.

The CQC said that the practice also led the development of a single point of access for children and youngsters to access mental health support "quickly and easily".

Moreover, staff were described as dealing with patients with "kindness and respect", the practice was able to "learn and innovate" throughout the Covid-19 pandemic, and patients "received effective care and treatment that met their needs".

The public watchdog said that the GP practice should however "implement regular infection prevention and control audits to ensure measures, including hand hygiene, are effective and embedded", improve emergency equipment check procedures, and take action to secure non-patient areas where clinical equipment and medicines are stored.

The CQC has four ratings: inadequate, requires improvement, good, and outstanding.

The Exmouth GP practice on Claremont Grove was also rated outstanding in 2016. This year's inspection was carried out at random "to test the reliability" of the CQC's new monitoring approach.

The ratings of other GP practices in Exmouth include Claremont Medical Practice (good, 2022), Haldon House Surgery (good, 2017), and Imperial Surgery (good, 2016).