BHF Highgate 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

People were treated with kindness and compassion. Staff protected their privacy and dignity. They treated them as individuals and supported their preferences. Feedback from patients was very positive. The service cared about and promoted the wellbeing of their staff. Staff feedback we received was unanimously positive about the culture of the practice and all the staff we spoke with were very positive about working at the practice. Staff told us they felt valued members of the team.

This service scored 80 (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. National GP Patient Survey data reflected people felt listened to and were treated with kindness with 76% of patients surveyed responding positively to their overall experience of their GP Practice (national average 74%). From Friends and Family data shared with us we saw staff were praised highly by patients for their kindness, caring and professional attitudes with many patients commenting on the helpfulness of all staff. National GP Patient Survey data showed that 89% of patients said the reception and administration team were helpful (national average 83%) and 91% of patients said they had confidence and trust in the last healthcare professional they saw or spoke to during their last appointment (national average 92%).

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. For example, access to interpreter services and a hearing loop were available. Staff received training in equality and diversity.

The service promoted people’s independence and staff helped patients and their carers to access advocacy and community-based services. The practice had care coordinators who supported patients and assisted them to obtain support in the community. Patients could access support groups, for example, there was a mental health support group at one of their other practice sites that patients could go to and they also held regular social support events like quizzes and bingo. Results from the National GP Patient Survey showed that 54% of patients were offered a choice of time or day when they last tried to make a general practice appointment. This was in-line with the national average of 53%.

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. All reception staff had been trained in care navigation that ensured people with immediate needs had access to services. Staff told us when the appointments were all taken, they could speak to the lead GP for advice if a patient’s problem was urgent. The National GP Patient Survey showed that 80% of patients described their experience of contacting their GP practice as good which was higher than the local and national average of 67%.

The service cared about and promoted the wellbeing of their staff and supported and enabled staff to always deliver person-centred care. Staff feedback we received was unanimously positive about the culture of the practice and all the staff we spoke with were very positive about working at the practice. Staff told us they felt valued members of the team. They reported a positive and friendly culture and told us that the Practice Senior (who carried out day to day management duties) and GP were very supportive. Staff reported being supported with work and personal issues. We saw staff attended regular meetings, had annual appraisals and the Practice Senior had an open-door policy. The Chief Nurse had had one to one meetings with the nursing team. GPs were supported clinically by the Clinical Chair and by attending joint clinical meetings with the provider’s other practices where shared clinical learning took place. Feedback was sought through staff surveys and appraisals.