Ashcroft 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

We looked for evidence that the practice involved patients and treated them with compassion, kindness, dignity and respect.

At our last inspection, we rated this key question as good. At this inspection, the rating remains the same.

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 patients with kindness, empathy and compassion. Patients we spoke with during the site visit and patients we received feedback from, described different examples of how staff were kind and compassionate. This included examples of kindness from the reception team, nursing team and the GPs.

The results of the National GP Patient Survey 2026 were in line with the national and local averages.For example, 88%of respondents said the healthcare professional they saw or spoke to was good at treating them with care and concern during their last general practice appointment, compared with 87% locally and 85% nationally.

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.

However, we found arrangements were not always in place to promote patients’ privacy and staff had not always considered ways to promote patients’ privacy and dignity when patients attended for intimate examinations, such as cervical screening. For example, we found staff were unaware whether their treatment room could be secured and the risk of staff interruptions had not been considered or assessed. We found the main treatment room door had a lock available, however, the internal door between 2 treatment rooms could not be locked and, during the inspection, we witnessed 2 staff members walking into the room without knocking. This was raised with the practice and a lock was immediately installed.

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

Staff were up to date with chaperone training, and we saw notices displayed in waiting and clinical areas to promote this to patients.

The practice identified patients who were carers and offered them health checks and support in accessing care. The practice currently has 175 carers on its register, approximately 4% of the patient population. Local resources and support information was available and the practice had recently appointed a new carers champion who planned to hold a carers event later in the year.

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. A hearing loop was available; however, we found none of the staff we spoke with were aware of how to use it. This was escalated to the practice leaders and we received assurances the practice had provided training for staff on how to use the hearing loop.

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

The practice had access to a social prescriber employed within the Primary Care Network (PCN) who engaged and supported vulnerable people to access additional support and to signpost them to other services.

The results of the National GP Patient Survey 2026 were in line with the national and local averages.For example, 94% of respondents said theywere involved as much as they wanted to be in decisions about their care and treatment during their last general practice appointment, compared with 92% locally and nationally.

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

The results of the National GP Patient Survey 2026 were in line with the national and local averages.For example, 90%of respondents said the healthcare professional they saw or spoke to was good at listening to them during their last general practice appointment, compared with 88% locally and 87% nationally.

Patients we spoke with and received feedback from during the inspection, told us that they felt involved in decision making about the care and treatment they received.

Staff we spoke with knew how to respond to a patient who required urgent attention and knew the processes to follow to ensure emergency support was accessed. All staff were up to date with basic life support training; however, 3 staff members were overdue sepsis awareness training.

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

Staff were dedicated to their roles and the practice and spoke positively about working at Ashcroft Surgery. Staff feedback indicated staff felt positive about new leadership and felt able to raise concerns with leaders.

Staff reported being supported if they were struggling at work and felt some recent changes within the practice had enabled their work to be more streamlined and effective.

However, some staff said they would appreciate more autonomy in their role as, at times, staff felt micromanaged due to some leaders reviewing all their work and notes daily.