Market Weighton Practice wins General Practice Award for Clinical Improvements: Chronic Conditions

The General Practice Awards is a prestigious award specifically aimed at general practice initiatives and sharing best practice. The team knew this was an important piece of work and there are very few organisations like the General Practice Award that acknowledge this type of work, which encouraged them to submit their case to the board.

Sue Loft, Assistant Practice Manager at Market Weighton Practice, said:

“This really is fantastic news and we are very proud to receive this award.  As a practice team we are all working so incredibly hard under extremely pressurised circumstances. This wonderful news shows that we continue to ensure that our patients are at the centre of everything we do.”

​The Market Weighton Practice Team entered the ''Clinical Improvement: Chronic Conditions'' category for its work around improving care for patients with a diagnosis of Chronic Heart Failure; a condition that is often poorly understood and sub optimally managed in general practice.

The team felt that their project was worth submitting after its successful implementation and the initiation of a bespoke primary care heart failure clinic. The team also acknowledged that achieving recognition for this work would help highlight its importance and encourage sharing of best practice. 

When asked why they believe they were chosen as the winners of this award, the team spoke about how the diagnosis and management of heart failure can often be challenging in primary care.

In order to address these challenges, the team took a novel approach, combining clinical audit with the initiation of a bespoke primary heart failure clinic. Furthermore, the team took the opportunity to create heart failure clinical templates that help highlight to clinicians the best way to manage such patients. The audit highlighted the under diagnosis of heart failure; and how, without accurate reporting, patients cannot be appropriately managed. The results of the audit fed naturally into the heart failure clinic and coupled with targeted clinical templates, allowing for continuity of care from all clinicians.

Amanda Goode, Advanced Nurse Practitioner at Market Weighton Practice and CVD lead for Harthill PCN, said:

“As the clinical lead for this project, I am delighted that the practice has been recognised for this important work. I’m very proud of the team who have very hard, despite the challenging environment of the NHS at present.”

The team believes they won because they demonstrated a holistic approach to the identification and management of patients with heart failure using a team-based approach. Without the hard work of the whole team, this would not have been possible. A special thank you to: Amanda Goode - ANP Lead, Dr Chris Buswell - GP Lead, Hayley Bleasby - Medical secretary, and Sue Loft - Deputy Practice Manager.