Primary Care Sheffield

On this page

• Overview
• Person-centred Care
• Care provision, Integration and continuity
• Providing Information
• Listening to and involving people
• Equity in access
• Equity in experiences and outcomes
• Planning for the future

The service was exceptional at making sure people were at the centre of their care and treatment choices and they decided, in partnership with people, how to respond to any relevant changes in people’s needs. The service demonstrated excellence in developing accurate, up-to-date information tailored to individual needs. Media content was also shared with practices across the city to support national health programmes and enhance patient education. People knew how to give feedback and were confident the service took it seriously and acted on it. The provider had an exceptional understanding of the diverse health and care needs of people and their local communities, so care was joined-up, flexible and supported choice and continuity. We saw the service worked in partnership with local practices and primary care networks to meet the needs of the city’s patient population. The service ensured people could access the care, support and treatment they needed when they needed it. Staff and leaders were innovative in how they listened to information about people who were most likely to experience inequality in experience or outcomes and actively used this information to provide tailored care, support and treatment in response to this.

This service scored 89 (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 was exceptional at making sure people were at the centre of their care and treatment choices and they decided, in partnership with people, how to respond to any relevant changes in people’s needs. Care plans reflected physical, mental, emotional, and social needs of patients including those related to protected characteristics under the Equality Act. Our review of clinical records showed patients were supported to understand their condition and were involved in planning for their care needs. Patients received co-ordinated and person-centred care. Staff maintained timely communication with patients registered GPs to ensure appropriate follow-up actions were taken. Patients attending the sexual health community clinic received text messages containing relevant information leaflets and links to educational videos, such as those related to contraceptive implant fittings.

Patients were also involved in decisions about their care with 96% of patients reporting they were involved as much as they wanted to be in decisions about their care on the latest NHS Friends and Family test data.

We saw evidence how the service was aware of the needs of patients within the city and implemented and changed services to adapt to these needs. For example, offering physiotherapy appointments both in and out of hours and some injections out of hours, like B12 to support patients. The service had also collaborated with a Primary Care Network (PCN) that had experienced low attendance rates for childhood asthma reviews, identifying that the majority of non-attending children were from the 1st to 3rd decile of deprivation. In response, a paediatric respiratory nurse was assigned to deliver a nine-hour Saturday morning clinic every fortnight at one of the extended access hubs to improve accessibility. As a result, the number of children requiring an asthma review decreased significantly—by approximately 40%. To further support engagement, a multilingual social prescriber contacted parents by phone to arrange appointments. In one session alone, 14 parents were reached, with 9 children attending their review the following day. Additionally, the service developed child-friendly, pictorial asthma review invitations to help educate and engage children in their care.

We looked at data from the NHS Friends and Family test from April to June 2025. For the extended access clinics, 94% of patients rated the service either very good or good. For the sexual health clinic hubs 97% of patients rated the service very good or good and 94% rated the same day urgent care service as either very good or good.

The service had an in-depth understanding of the diverse health and care needs of people and their local communities, so care was joined-up, flexible and supported choice and continuity. We saw the service worked in partnership with local practices and primary care networks to meet the needs of the city’s patient population. For example, to support vulnerable patients, the service provided access to COVID-19 antiviral treatment for high-risk individuals across South Yorkshire. This included conducting telephone assessments and ensuring medicines were delivered to community pharmacies within 48 hours of receiving a referral. Over the past 12 months, the service supported 650 patients through this initiative. The provider adapted its services to reflect the diverse needs of the community, including relocating and expanding the number of enhanced access hubs across the city. These changes followed an equality impact assessment and resulted in engagement with approximately 8,500 patients. There were established mechanisms for engaging with patients own healthcare provider when continuation of care was required, for example, referral to secondary care and/or test results.

The service demonstrated excellence in developing accurate, up-to-date information tailored to individual needs. Media content was shared with practices across the city to support national health programmes and enhance patient education. For example, contraception advice was translated into multiple languages to promote patient education and improve accessibility. Materials were regularly reviewed and adapted to ensure cultural sensitivity. For example, recognising that symptoms may present differently on various skin tones, the service developed a breast cancer awareness resource specifically designed for patients with different skin colours. Media materials were provided to practices to promote the uptake of childhood immunisations at school entry age, supporting efforts to increase vaccine coverage and reduce health inequalities. Services had access to interpreter services and support for individuals who were hard of hearing, further promoting inclusive care. Information provided by the service met the Accessible Information Standard.

The service made it easy for people to share feedback and ideas, or raise complaints about their care, treatment and support. They involved people in decisions about their care and told them what had changed as a result. We saw complaints were managed in line with the service’s policy. Learning from complaints was clearly embedded in practice, with staff able to identify changes made in response to patient feedback. The provider conducted compliance audits following complaints to drive improvement. For example, an audit of NSAID (anti-inflammatory medicine) prescribing was undertaken and guidelines regarding NSAID and PPI (medicine to reduce the amount of acid in the stomach) usage were shared in clinical update newsletters to support learning among clinicians.

The provider invited every patient attending the service to participate in the NHS Friends and Family Test, using the feedback to inform service improvements. One example of action taken was the introduction of reminders to practices, ensuring that patients attending for dressing appointments were supplied with the necessary prescriptions in advance. They also invited the practices whose patients used the service through their primary care networks to participate in surveys and took action to address any concerns or suggestions made. The provider received 28 responses from 54 practices on the latest survey carried out in Spring 2025. Results showed 86% of practices were very happy or happy with the service, 10% (3 respondents) were unsatisfied and 3% (1 respondent) was very unsatisfied we saw the provider had an action plan to address any concerns or suggestions made. The provider had also carried out a research study of the enhanced access service to gain a more in depth understanding of patients’ experience.

The service was exceptional at ensuring people could access the care, support and treatment they needed when they needed it. The provider offered enhanced extended access clinics to the patients of 12 Primary Care Networks (PCN’s are a cluster of GP practices who work together) across 11 hub sites in the city. The hub sites are existing GP practices. The provider had identified through extensive patient engagement and feedback what their needs were with regard to location of the hubs. They had placed these strategically across the city in areas to tackle health inequalities. The extended access clinics were staffed by local GPs, advanced clinical practitioners, nurses, nurse associates, health care assistants, physiotherapists, pharmacists and receptionists who mostly worked in the GP practices. The provider had a team of administration and management staff who supported the delivery of the services. Extended access appointments were offered between 6.30pm and 9.30pm Monday to Friday and 9am to 6pm Saturday. Appointments could be made for both same day urgent care or long-term condition management and would be booked in by the patient’s own GP. Practices had a booking criteria guide based on skill set to follow. The provider also supported acute and urgent care across the city through its same day urgent care service. This service is for acute and minor illness symptoms and not an emergency service. This service operates all year round but scales up over the winter period to provide extra support over the busier months. It is staffed by a mixture of GPs, advanced clinical practitioners and paramedics. It provides telephone, face to face appointments and a home visiting service. The provider supported other services by engaging with other urgent and acute care services such as the walk-in centre and ambulance service and linked in with the extended access clinics. They had also worked with Sheffield Children’s Hospital allowing patients who presented to Accident and Emergency to be triaged into GP appointments thus reducing the waiting times in Accident and Emergency and improving patient experience. Appointments were mainly booked in by the patient’s own GP and were clinically triaged. Staff arranged same day home visits depending on clinical need and the location of the patient’s address. This service operated during the working day. The sexual health and community gynaecology service is commissioned by Sheffield integrated care board (ICB) in partnership with Sheffield City Council to provide a community gynaecology and sexual health service for contraception advice, emergency contraception advice or referral to community pharmacy partners, intra-uterine device fittings, contraceptive injections and implants. They also delivered opportunistic cervical screening for eligible patients to support GP practices with their up-take of the national screening programme. Appointments for this service could be booked directly by the patient. All patients are triaged and there was a clear procedure in place for patients aged under 16 years. The provider had extensive standard operating procedures in place for all services and clear guidelines and booking reference guides for GP practices to follow. All services had been created to try to reduce local waiting times and improve patient experience with more patients being seen in the community. For example, to improve patient convenience and reduce hospital waiting times, the provider offered a community-based teledermatology service focused on diagnosing suspected skin cancers. This service operated during evenings and weekends. Between December 2024 and April 2025, 454 patients were screened through the service. Since commencement, this service had contributed to a 22% reduction in the urgent suspected skin cancer waiting list times.

From the latest NHS Friends and Family data from April to June 2025, 96% of patients reported being satisfied with their experience of booking an appointment. Those who expressed dissatisfaction typically cited long wait times when trying to contact their own practice by phone. In the last 12 months 58,642 appointments had been delivered in the extended access clinics and 44,723 in the same day urgent care service.

Staff and leaders were innovative in how they listened to information about people who were most likely to experience inequality in experience or outcomes. Staff and leaders actively used this information to provide exceptionally tailored care, support and treatment in response to this.

The provider routinely conducted equality impact assessments when reviewing new or changing services. For example, this process was followed when the extended access service transitioned from ICB commissioning to PCN oversight. Patient feedback was actively used to inform service improvements, such as reviewing opening times and travel distances to extended access hubs. As a result, additional hubs were opened to better meet community needs.

Feedback from patients through the NHS Friends and Family Test was predominantly positive, reflecting overall satisfaction with the service. Staff treated people equally and without discrimination. Leaders proactively sought ways to address any barriers to improving people’s experience and worked with local organisations, including within the voluntary sector, to address any local health inequalities. For example, staff had actively engaged with the local community by visiting a women’s refuge and asylum support centre to raise awareness of NHS services, including cervical cytology, breast screening, and contraceptive care. The provider also received donations of sanitary products from a local company, and staff delivered demonstrations on how to use them. These efforts aimed to improve health literacy and access to care among vulnerable populations.

Staff delivered an educational event focused on hormone replacement therapy and women’s health, supported by interpreters to ensure accessibility. The session received positive feedback from the service manager. To further support diverse communities, the provider arranged for information materials to be translated into multiple languages, which were then distributed across several primary care networks throughout the city for practices to use.

The provider had access to a patient’s medical record and could access records relating to any health plan or important life changes, including end of life decisions.