Priory Medical Centre

On this page

• Overview
• Person-centred Care
• Care provision, Integration and continuity
• Providing Information
• Listening to and involving people
• Equity in access
• Equity in experiences and outcomes
• Planning for the future

We assessed all quality statements in the responsive key question.This is the first inspection for this service since its registration with CQC. This key question has been rated as Good.People were involved in decisions about their care. The service provided information people could understand. People knew how to give feedback and were confident the service took it seriously and acted on it. The service was easy to access, and people received fair and equal care and treatment.

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 ensured people were at the centre of decisions about their care and treatment. Staff worked in partnership with individuals to respond to changes in their needs. Care plans were person-centred and reflected people’s physical, mental, emotional, and social needs, including those relating to protected characteristics under the Equality Act. The practice signposted patients to the appropriate services, for example it had high referral rates to pharmacy first compared to other local practices.

Results from the latest NHS National GP Patient Survey showed that 92% of respondents felt their needs were met during their last appointment. The practice listened to patient feedback and used it to identify areas for improvement and, made appropriate changes to enhance the quality of care provided. Non-digital routes for access were available for those that were digitally excluded or low literacy, which included telephone lines with the option to speak to a person, paper forms at reception and support offered for filling in online forms. The practice used flag on the system for neurodivergent patients so staff could support them for individual needs.

The practice-maintained equality and diversity policies with staff in receipt of appropriate training.

We saw the practice worked in partnership with other services to meet the needs of its patient population. The practice had tailored its services to meet the diverse needs of its community, for example, building relationships with community groups to promote the take up of screening programmes.

The practice had high uptake rates in national screening programmes, for example, bowel cancer screening and cervical smears.

The practice offered many community services onsite to meet the needs of local patients, preventing longer waits and travel to hospital. Examples of services offered were Community Dermatology, Community Audiology, Physiotherapy and Gynaecology.

The service supplied appropriate, accurate and up-to-date information in formats that were tailored to individual needs.

Information to promote the take up of screening and immunisation programmes was available in a range of languages. The practice had access to interpreter services, including British Sign Language. Information provided by the service met the Accessible Information Standard. Patients were informed as to how to access their care records. The practice offered hearing loop support, a chaperone service and a quiet room for confidentiality.

The service made it easy for people to share feedback and ideas, or raise complaints about their care, treatment and support.

We saw a complaint process was in place. Complaints had been investigated and managed appropriately. Learning from complaints was shared with staff on the practice’s shared IT systems.

Staff made it easy for people to share feedback and ideas, or raise complaints about their care, treatment and support. Reception staff were aware of the needs of the local community. Staff could refer people with social needs, such as those experiencing social isolation or housing difficulties, to a social prescriber.

We found people had multiple ways to provide feedback. This included through NHS websites, the complaints process, the NHS Friends and Family Test (FFT) and the GP National Patient Survey. We saw the practice shared, ‘You said, we did’ information with patients on posters and on the practice website in response to the Friends and Family Test. One example of action was that the practice had organised information sessions for patients on the NHS App. Another example was that the practice had provided cervical screening clinics during extended hours.

The practice Patient Participation Group (PPG) held drop-in sessions in the practice and in the community where patients could share ideas and suggestions for improvement.

The practice had positive results in the National GP Patient Survey for listening and involving patients. 91% of respondents felt that during their last appointment, the healthcare professional was very good or fairly good at listening to them. This was higher than the national average of 87%. Of the respondents, 94% indicated that during their last appointment they were involved as much as they wanted to be in decisions about their care and treatment. This was higher than then the national average of 91%.

The service made sure that people could access the care, support and treatment they needed when they needed it.

During our assessment, we looked at the practice’s appointment system and could see that patients were able to book appointments that suited their individual needs. We saw that there were still appointments available that day for patients. Patients were able to book appointments over the telephone, in person and online.

The service had reviewed capacity and demand to identify how many on-the-day appointments were needed in relation to pre-bookable appointments and built the rotas accordingly. Support was offered to patients with learning disability such as telephone and text reminders before appointments. The practice used total triage which allowed patients to obtain appointments in various ways.

Staff and leaders actively listened to information about people who were most likely to experience inequality in experience or outcomes and tailored their care, support and treatment in response to this.

The service worked with community partners to enable equity in experiences and outcomes. This included working with NHS community teams to identify patients with mental health with an aim to support them with access to treatment for ongoing health needs.

The practice supported many patients who were vulnerable to health inequalities. For example, the practice offered additional support to refugees with signposting and helping them to link with others from their own country. Staff arranged a clinic in a local community centre offering Covid and Flu vaccinations which resulted in 50 additional patients being vaccinated.

The service supported homeless patients to register and provided ongoing access to the surgery for health needs and signposting to other services.

People were supported to choose appropriate treatments. Our records review showed people were supported to consider their wishes for their end-of-life care, including cardiopulmonary resuscitation. This information was shared with other services when necessary.

The practice had regular clinics for patient led by Myton Hospice for patients with long-term palliative diagnoses, their carers and families. The practice supported patients by providing helpful information such as a cancer support pack, planning ahead document and bereavement support pack.