Cossington Park Surgery

On this page

• Overview
• Kindness, compassion and dignity
• Treating people as individuals
• Independence, choice and control
• Responding to people’s immediate needs
• Workforce wellbeing and enablement

We looked for evidence that the service involved people and treated them with compassion, kindness, dignity and respect. At our previous comprehensive assessment, we rated this key question as Requires Improvement. At this assessment, we rated this key question as Good.

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.

There was a culture of kindness and respect within the practice. The practice always treated people with empathy and compassion and respected their privacy and dignity. The National GP Patient Survey Data demonstrated that 91% of respondents felt they were treated with care and concern during their last appointment, which was in line with the national average of 86%.

Arrangements were in place to promote patients’ privacy. For example, private areas were available if patients wanted a quieter area, chaperones were available, privacy curtains were in clinical rooms. In addition, staff provided us with examples of where they had demonstrated kindness, compassion and dignity for patients with learning disabilities such as vaccination appointments.

During the site visit, we observed staff being helpful and polite to patients and a culture of kindness and respect between colleagues.

The practice treated people as individuals and made sure people’s care, support and treatment met people’s needs and preferences. Personal, cultural, social, religious and equality characteristic needs were understood and met. Staff had completed equality and diversity training. To accommodate individual needs, patient requirements were recorded on the patient record such as communication needs such as translation and interpretation support, which included British Sign Language, could be organised. For patients that had difficulty using technology, information could be printed on paper if this was preferred.

The practice promoted people’s independence and supported them to make decisions about their care, treatment and wellbeing. They provided patients with information and guidance to enable them to make informed decisions about their care.National GP Patient Survey data showed that 95% of the respondents felt involved as much as they wanted to be in decisions about their care and treatment during their last general practice appointment, which was in line with the national average of 92%. In addition, 76% of respondentsreported they were offered a choice of time or day when they last tried to make a general practice appointment, which was significantly above the national average of 57%. Staff ensured that all necessary information was accessible between services to ensure patient preferences were met to support and maximise patient’s independence and outcomes from care and treatment.

The practice listened to and understood patients’ needs, views and wishes. Staff responded to patients’ needs in the moment and acted to minimise any discomfort, concern or distress. Staff we spoke with knew how to respond when a patient needed urgent attention and knew the processes to follow to ensure emergency support was given.

Staff had undertaken sepsis training and told us they could also send an urgent task on the clinical system to clinicians if they needed any help to determine the urgency of patient needs.

The reception team had been trained to signpost patients to the appropriate service and clinician such as musculoskeletal conditions to the First Contact Physiotherapy service; and 7 common conditions including earache, sore throat, and urinary tract infections to the Pharmacy First service.

The social prescriber could also offer support and signpost to other relevant services to meet the needs of patients.

The practice cared about and promoted the wellbeing of their staff. Leaders told us they supported and valued their colleagues. All of the staff we spoke with during our site visit gave positive feedback about the practice. For example, staff told us they felt they worked well as a team, and colleagues supported one another.

Leaders told us they had one-to-one meetings with staff to understand where each member of staff would like to progress in their role and made changes accordingly. For example, one member of the administrative team had trained in phlebotomy but hadn’t had the opportunity to use these skills. As a result, practice management re-arranged the reception to facilitate the use of these skills and they reported this staff member had been very happy with her role as a result and she was now looking at other skills she can learn next for her self-improvement.

In addition to the one-to-one meetings, the practice held daily huddle informal meetings based around staff wellbeing to touch base with colleagues and also share any patient concerns, updates or queries.

Leaders had taken steps to recognise and meet the wellbeing needs of staff. For example, we were provided with evidence of a practice Staff Wellbeing policy which gave information on the provision of initiatives which were provided or signposted for staff. These included flexible working options where possible and accommodating staff for religious commitments and festivals.