Current partners and staff were joined by former colleagues at Alton Street Surgery to celebrate becoming the first doctor's practice in Herefordshire to achieve the prestigious Quality Practice Award.

Dr Steve Field, CBE, Chairman of the Royal College of General Practitioners presented the Quality Practice Award on Friday, April 16th. He handed the plaque to John Brookes of Sellack, a patient who has been registered with the practice since 1938. Mr Brookes will be 87 years old on May 18th and said that the practice must be doing something right.

The practice is the first practice in Herefordshire to achieve this prestigious award and the 100th practice in England to do so.

The Quality Practice Award (QPA) is a quality assurance process undertaken by practices which recognises a high standard of quality patient care delivered by every member of the Primary Care Team.

The practice was required to submit a portfolio of written evidence meeting criteria for 22 different sections including Patient Information and Choice, Continued Care in the Home, Team Working and Practice Management.

This was followed by an assessment visit carried out by a panel of four. The panel interviewed the team and inspected the premises, medical records and systems in place.

Doctor Philip Clayton explained that it had been an exhausting and exacting procedure which had taken three years to achieve.

He said it had been very useful for improving patient care as they had had to examine every aspect of their work and were able to put better procedures in place. He said the biggest pressure on the practice was time and GPs are dealing with increasingly complex patients.

However the partners recognise that the patients are vital as without them they would not have a role and Dr Clayton said he was very proud of their patient's group, which was a very useful sounding board.