Bewdley Medical Centre

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.

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.

The National GP Patient Survey Data demonstrated that 85% of respondents felt they were treated with care and concern during their last appointment, which was in line with the national average of 86%.

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 with empathy and compassion and respected their privacy and dignity.

Arrangements were in place to promote patients’ privacy within the practice. For example, additional rooms were available if patients needed to talk with reception staff in private; chaperones were available for patient appointments; and privacy curtains were installed in clinical rooms.

Staff gave us examples about how they treated patients with kindness and compassion to support them. For example, the practice used their meeting room to host a monthly coffee morning for patients with dementia and carers. Staff were enthusiastic about these coffee mornings and reported they had approximately 40 people attending and attendance was increasing. The coffee mornings offered a ‘safe’ place for people with dementia and their carers to meet and come together inthe community to receive support, socialise and access professional advice.

The practice also supported carers by appointing ‘Carers Champions’ within the practice. Their role involved providing carer ‘check-ins’ where pressures or challenges were identified and practical and emotional support was offered; and signposting carers to relevant community, voluntary, and statutory services. Leaders told us they endeavoured to provide holistic support for carers and identified non-clinical needs such as social isolation and carer strain.

In addition to demonstrating compassion for patients, the practice provided us with examples of staff participation in multiple charity fundraising events such as motor neurone disease and a local hospice.

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.

We discussed with staff how they responded to changes in people’s preferred gender, name and title. Staff explained any changes were patient led. The practice had a Transgender protocol in place and staff dealt with patient preferences effectively and sensitively.

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 90% 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 91%. 51% of respondentswere offered a choice of time or day when they last tried to make a general practice appointment, which was slightly below the national average of 54%. 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. For example, staff had undertaken sepsis training and recognising very ill patients over the telephone. The practice had an ‘Emergency Telephone Call Handling Policy’ and a ‘Heart Attack Action Plan – Desk Aid for Reception’ for reception staff to refer to.

There was a system for clinical appointment triage that ensured people with immediate needs had access to services. The duty GP reviewed patient’s queries and various appointments were available such as face to face, online or by telephone.

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. On a monthly basis, staff received recognition from leaders for any compliments received from patients with a ‘Golden Twix’ award.

Leaders had taken steps to recognise and meet the wellbeing needs of staff. For example, ‘Mental Health First Aid’ training had been arranged for staff. This training is designed to assist people to take preventative measures to stop further damage to someone who may be suffering as well as proactive measures. People are trained to both listen, support and spot any warning signs.

In addition, the Wyre Forest Health Partnership had recently invited staff across all the practices to attend a talk on the menopause given by one of the GPs. The talk was designed to provide information about the menopause; symptoms and management; lifestyle advice; and where to get support.