The Harefield 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 service involved people and treated them with compassion, kindness, dignity and respect. At this first assessment of the service since its registration with CQC, this key question has been rated as good because we did not find any issues with patient dignity, respect and treating people as individuals.

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 treated people and the staff with kindness, empathy, compassion and their privacy and dignity were respected. Staff respected the choices of the patient population. The National GP Patient Survey (2024) result showed that 82% of the respondents (National average 85%; Local average 83%) found the healthcare professionals they saw and spoke to were good at treating them with care and concern. Of the respondents to the GP Patient Survey, 79% said the practice staff and healthcare professionals were good at listening to them (National average 87%; Local average 85%). The National GP Patient Survey (2025) result published after the assessment took place showed that 86% of the respondents (National average 86%; Local average 83%) found the healthcare professionals they saw and spoke to were good at treating them with care and concern. Of the respondents to the 2025 GP Patient Survey, 87% said the practice staff and healthcare professionals were good at listening to them (National average 87%; Local average 85%). Staff understood the patients’ needs and ensured they were met with compassion.

The practice treated people as individuals and ensured people’s care, support and treatment met people’s needs and preferences. People’s culture, background and protected characteristics were taken into consideration when providing services. The cultural, social, religious needs of the patient population were understood and met, with the people fully involved in their care. Staff were trained on how to support autistic people and people living with learning disability.

The practice promoted people’s independence, choice and control over their care and treatment. The practice supported people to understand their health conditions to make informed decisions. The practice advertised and ensured the patient population had access to interpreting services and there was a hearing loop for those who may require its use with the staff demonstrating knowledge of how to use the hearing loop correctly.

The practice listened to and understood people’s needs and wishes. The practice had a system for appointment triage to ensure people with immediate needs had access to services. Staff we spoke to were trained on emergency support and referrals and knew how to respond and escalate appropriately in such situations. The practice ensured that the recruitment of staff was safe and effective to respond appropriately to the needs of the patient population. The end of shift reports completed by the team reflected any immediate need that required action which were then followed up at the next shift. The practice responded to the need of the patient population such as students who had educational examination stress by offering appointments by phone, video consultations to address their needs.

The practice cared about and promoted staff wellbeing and supported and enabled staff to always deliver person-centred care. For example, each month since December 2024, 1 member of staff was nominated as the star employee by secret ballot conducted by all members of staff. The winner was awarded a John Lewis Voucher including a half day off work given to the staff who acquired the highest number of gold stars. Since its inception, 5 members of staff had been named as employees of the month. Members of staff we spoke to were happy to work at this practice because they felt supported, and their wellbeing was looked after. The leaders ensured and encouraged regular team building activities and feedback from such activities were used to improve services delivery through enhanced staff wellbeing.

Leaders shielded the staff from abuse and rudeness using the Shield Team from Abuse and Rudeness (S.T.A.R) system. The STAR system was an internal reporting system used by the staff for all call and front facing interactions and reviewed robustly to protect the staff and provide a working environment where everyone was protected. The system also allowed the practice to identify frustrations experienced by the patient populations before escalation occurred and drove the practice to improve service delivery and experience for both patients and staff.