Primary Care Sheffield

On this page

• Overview
• Assessing needs
• Delivering evidence-based care and treatment
• How staff, teams and services work together
• Supporting people to live healthier lives
• Monitoring and improving outcomes
• Consent to care and treatment

People were involved in assessments of their needs. Staff reviewed assessments taking account of people’s communication, personal and health needs. Care was based on latest evidence and good practice. Staff worked with all agencies involved in people’s care for the best outcomes, for example, the patient’s own GP. Staff made sure people understood their care and treatment to enable them to give informed consent.

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 service made sure people’s care and treatment was effective by assessing and reviewing their health, care, wellbeing and communication needs with them. Feedback from people using the service was mostly positive. People felt involved in any assessment of their needs and felt confident that staff understood their individual and cultural needs. Administration staff were aware of the needs of their local community and how to signpost patients who may require support, for example, to social prescribing.

The service planned and delivered people’s care and treatment with them, including what was important and mattered to them. They did this in line with legislation and current evidence-based good practice and standards. Systems were in place to ensure staff were up to date with evidence-based guidance and legislation and clinical records we saw demonstrated this.

The service consistently collaborated effectively across teams and with external providers, including patients’ own GPs, to ensure comprehensive support. In addition to updating the patient’s medical record, staff working out of hours in the extended access clinic completed a detailed handover document. This was passed to the administration team to follow up with the patient’s GP. This ensured they were aware of any necessary referrals or test results. Leaders had a deep understanding of issues, challenges and priorities in their service, and in the wider community. During the assessment we were given many examples of how the service had worked collaboratively with other organisations, for example, one of the university sites was designated as an extended access hub to improve access for younger people, offering evening and Saturday appointments. They had also developed a call handling service to support practices covering in-hours administration and training events. This service was directly linked to the same-day urgent care service, enabling timely access to care when needed. Staff reported a supportive and positive culture in teams across the organisation working well together.

The service always supported people to manage their health and wellbeing to fully maximise their independence, choice and control. The service supported people to live healthier lives and where possible, reduce their future needs for care and support. For example, supporting national health priorities, the service offered opportunistic cervical cytology during intrauterine device (IUD) appointments, in line with NHS cervical screening guidance. The provider shared data which showed that patients on long-acting reversible contraception (LARC) had improved since the commencement of the sexual health and gynaecology clinic offered appointments in the community with an uptake of 55% in 2019/20 increasing year on year to 92% in 2021/22.

The service routinely monitored people’s care and treatment to continuously improve it. They ensured that outcomes were positive and consistent, and that they met both clinical expectations and the expectations of people themselves. From the clinical notes we reviewed, we found that people who used the service experienced positive outcomes as set out in legislation, standards, and evidence-based clinical guidance.

The service told people about their rights around consent and respected these when delivering person-centred care and treatment. Staff understood and applied legislation relating to consent. Capacity and consent were clearly recorded.