Priory Medical Centre

On this page

• Overview
• Assessing needs
• Delivering evidence-based care and treatment
• How staff, teams and services work together
• Supporting people to live healthier lives
• Monitoring and improving outcomes
• Consent to care and treatment

We assessed all quality statements in the effective key question. This inspection was carried out following changes to the practice’s registration with the Care Quality Commission (CQC) which included a relocation to purpose built premises in August 2022. This key question has been rated as Good. People were involved in assessments of their needs. Staff reviewed assessments taking account of people’s communication, personal and health needs. Care was based on latest evidence and good practice. Staff made sure people understood their care and treatment to enable them to give informed consent.

This service scored 75 (out of 100) for this area. Find out what we look at when we assess this area and How we calculate these scores.

The service made sure people’s care and treatment was effective by assessing and reviewing their health, care, wellbeing and communication needs with them.

Feedback from people using the service was positive. People felt involved in any assessment of their needs and felt confident that staff understood their individual and cultural needs.

Reception staff were aware of the needs of the local community and used digital flags within the care records system to highlight individual needs, such as a need for longer appointments or for a translator. Staff checked people’s health, care, and wellbeing needs during health reviews. Clinical staff used templates when conducting care reviews to support the review of people’s wider health and wellbeing. The practice had a patient profile template for patients with a learning disability so that staff could understand how to support them in the best way. The provider had effective systems to identify people with previously undiagnosed conditions.

Staff could refer people with social needs, such as those experiencing social isolation or housing difficulties, to a social prescriber. The practice had developed a triage sheet to support reception staff to navigate patients effectively to the right clinician or emergency services.

The practice was an accredited veteran friendly practice which had been awarded by the local Primary Care Network (PCN). This meant the practice was able to offer bespoke support for veterans and their families.

The service planned and delivered people’s care and treatment with them, including what was important to them. They did this in line with legislation and current evidence-based good practice and standards.

Systems were in place to ensure staff were up to date with evidence-based guidance and legislation. Staff had completed specialist training where needed. Clinical records we sampled demonstrated care was provided in line with current guidance.

The practice worked well across teams and services to support patients. They made sure assessments of patients’ individual needs were shared and accessed in a timely manner when people moved between different services. For example, the practice used an integrated care record which ensured local organisations had access to a patients’ clinical information to make moving between services more seamless.

Staff had access to the information they needed to appropriately assess, plan, and deliver people’s care, treatment, and support.

The service was excellent at supporting people to manage their health and wellbeing to maximise their independence, choice and control. The service proactively supported people to live healthier lives and where possible, reduce their future needs for care and support.

Staff focussed on identifying risks to patients’ health, including those in the last 12 months of their lives, patients at risk of developing a long-term condition and those with caring responsibilities. Staff supported national priorities and initiatives to improve population health, including stopping smoking and tackling obesity. The service offered smoking cessation clinics to support patients and was also proactive in offering NHS health checks and weight management referrals.

The practice offered additional support to patients living with long term conditions. For example, by referring several patients regularly to the Healthier You NHS Diabetes Prevention Programme (NDPP), to reduce the risk of patients developing Type 2 diabetes. The service also offered assessment for diagnosing Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease (COPD) and asthma by specially trained staff using the practice’s specialist equipment. This meant patients could get treatment earlier for better outcomes.

The practice offered services such as physiotherapy and dermatology appointments within the practice, so patients felt comfortable in the environment they know.

Staff offered weekly wellbeing walks with support from patients who volunteer. Patients fed back that they no longer felt socially isolated and felt healthier because of the walks. The practice also offered seated exercise classes and patients fed back that they felt healthier and it had given them new social contacts.

The service routinely monitored people’s care and treatment to continuously improve it. They ensured that outcomes were positive and consistent, and that they met both clinical expectations and the expectations of people themselves.

Audits had been completed and identified improvements. The findings had been followed up to check improvements had been actioned.

From the clinical notes we reviewed, we found that people who used the service experienced positive outcomes as set out in legislation, standards, and evidence-based clinical guidance.

The practice was in line with national targets for screening and above national averages for child immunisations. Unconsolidated data provided by the practice showed the practice was above averages in cervical screening targets. The practice offered set appointments for immunisations and cervical screening but were also flexible to meet the needs of their population, they were able to do this through offering extended access appointments. The practice contacted patients who had not attended their screening appointments to support people to engage with the programme.

The practice’s frailty service had worked closely with local hospitals to reduce accident and emergency attendances and emergency admissions to hospital for patients living in care homes. This included the frailty team conducting weekly ward rounds in the care homes which were additional to the GP weekly ward rounds.

The service told people about their rights around consent and respected these when delivering person-centred care and treatment.

Staff understood and applied legislation relating to consent. Capacity and consent were clearly recorded, and staff had completed training to support this. Through our access to the clinical system, we reviewed Do Not Attempt Cardiopulmonary Resuscitation (DNACPR) and found decisions were appropriate and were made in line with relevant legislation. The practice carried out an audit of DNACPR in 2025 to ensure that all of these had been reviewed in the last 12 months.

The practice conducted a consent audit in 2 cycles to endure that consent for minor surgery was recorded in patient records. The second cycle of the audit showed that consent was recorded on 100% of cases.