Island City Practice Also known as Lake Road Practice

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 practice involved people and treated them with compassion, kindness, dignity and respect. This is the first inspection for this practice since its new 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 practice 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. National GP Patient Survey data reflected people felt listened to and were treated with kindness. During our onsite visit, we observed staff respecting patient privacy and spoke to patients in a respectful way.

The practice 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.

The practice promoted people’s independence, so people knew their rights and had choice and control over their own care, treatment and wellbeing. Staff helped patients and their carers to access advocacy and community-based practices. People reported high levels of satisfaction with the practice as they knew what the next steps would be after contacting the GP practice. Systems, processes and guidance were in place to inform staff on how to maintain patient’s independence, choice and control. These included staff training in obtaining consent and supporting clinical staff with advanced life decision-making policies. Other staff training included awareness of the Mental Capacity Act, safeguarding and learning disability and autism.

The practice 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. There was a system for appointment triage that ensured people with immediate needs had access to practices. The online triage system introduced by the practice in February 2024 provided timely and responsive attention to patient needs. The provider was also able to evidence their system and how they achieved attention to all triage requests by the end of each working day. Patients received a response to their request within 3 hours and the provider had improved handling capacity by 61%. The online appointment system has increased appointments in the past year by 22,000.Staff we spoke with knew the process for referral to emergency support, including mental health crisis teams.

The practice cared about and promoted the wellbeing of their staff and supported and enabled staff to always deliver person-centred care. Staff told us they were valued by leaders, had a sense of belonging and had the ability to contribute to decision-making. Leaders had taken steps to recognise and meet the wellbeing needs of staff, which included the necessary resources and facilities for safe working, such as regular breaks and rest areas. Leaders also provided a staff newsletter and this detailed general updates, friends and family feedback, patient requests closed each month, and staff birthdays were celebrated. Staff reported being supported if they were struggling at work. We saw team-building days were established within the practice. Staff told us that the provider focused on staff wellbeing and teamwork and this resulted in a positive working environment.