Summerhill Health

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.

This is the first inspection for this service since its registration with CQC. This key question has been rated 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.

The service always treated people with kindness, empathy and compassion and respected their privacy and dignity. Staff treated colleagues from other organisations with kindness and respect.

Arrangements were in place to promote patients’ privacy. Staff we spoke with understood Gillick competency and there was a process to ensure young adults had control over their own privacy and the amount of parental involvement in managing their care and support.

Staff described how patients were given sufficient time during consultations and that the practice ethos was to provide personal attention and comprehensive support to help patients manage their health effectively.

Patient confidentiality and dignity were protected through secure systems, including encrypted clinical records, two-factor authentication and policies preventing patient information being stored on shared drives. Staff also demonstrated awareness of maintaining privacy during remote consultations and would rearrange consultations where confidentiality could not be assured.

CQC received 53 positive comments, and the service has a 5-star rating on google reviews. People told us that they felt listened to and were shown empathy. The service had completed its own patient survey and 100% of patients rated the service as “very good” or “strongly agree” for clinical listening and assessing medical conditions.

The service treated people as individuals and made sure people’s care, support and treatment met people’s needs and preferences. They took account of people’s strengths, abilities, aspirations, culture and unique backgrounds and protected characteristics.

Patients’ personal, cultural, social, religious and equality characteristics needs were understood and met. Patient communication needs were met to enable them to be fully involved in their care.

People were treated as individuals, and care was tailored to meet their specific needs and preferences. The service identified patients who required additional support and made reasonable adjustments, including providing interpreter services, hearing loop facilities and neurodiversity-friendly clinics.

The service promoted people’s independence, so people knew their rights and had choice and control over their own care, treatment and wellbeing.

The service listened to and understood people’s needs, views and wishes. Staff responded to people’s needs in the moment and acted to minimise any discomfort, concern or distress.

The service cared about and promoted the wellbeing of their staff and supported and enabled staff to always deliver person-centred care.

Staff spoke positively about the culture within the service and told us leaders were approachable and supportive. There was an open-door culture where staff felt able to raise concerns and seek advice when needed. The service supported staff wellbeing through regular team huddles, wellbeing initiatives and access to occupational health benefits such as eye tests. Staff received annual appraisals and the provider maintained a training matrix to oversee mandatory training requirements. Weekly team meetings and the use of action trackers helped ensure staff remained engaged and involved in service development and improvement.