- GP practice
Alderwood Medical Practice
Assessment report published 5 August 2026
Contents
Ratings
Our view of the service
Date of Assessment: 22 July 2026.
Alderwood Medical Practice is a GP practice and delivers services to approximately 6,654 people under a contract held with NHS England. According to the latest available data, the ethnic make-up of the service area is approximately 95.7% White, 1.8% Asian, 1.6% Mixed, 0.6% Black and 0.3% Other. Information published by the Office for Health Improvement and Disparities shows deprivation within the service population group is in the 5th decile (5 of 10). The lower the decile, the more deprived the service population is relative to others.
This was a focused assessment. We undertook this assessment due to the length of time since our last assessment. We assessed 10 quality statements from across all 5 key questions. This assessment considered the demographics of the people using the service, the context the service was working within and how this impacted service delivery. Where relevant, further commentary is provided in the quality statements section of this report.
Systems to ensure the environment was safe and equipment was appropriately calibrated were not always effective. The service assessed the risk of infection well however, steps to control the risk of it spreading were not always monitored. Staff had the right skills, qualifications and experience although some staff training was not up to date. Clinical staffing levels had been assessed to ensure patients’ needs were met. However, where capacity audits demonstrated the need for additional non-clinical input, this had not been acted on.
Staff supported people to live healthier lives, monitoring their care and treatment to ensure they received positive and consistent outcomes. They met national targets for childhood immunisation uptake and were slightly below the national target for cervical screening uptake.
Staff treated people with kindness, empathy and compassion, and respected their privacy and dignity.
People could access care, treatment and support when they needed it. However, patient satisfaction with telephone access to the practice was low. Leaders and staff were alert to discrimination and inequality that could disadvantage groups of people who used the service and sought ways to address any barriers.
Staff had not been made aware of the service’s vision and strategy. Governance systems needed to be strengthened. Staff understood their individual roles and responsibilities.
We found a breach of regulation in relation to effective systems and processes to ensure good governance. We have asked the provider for an action plan in response to the concerns found at this assessment.
People's experience of this service
As part of our assessment, we reviewed feedback from people who used the service to understand their views and experience of the service. This included reviewing feedback available to us through the 2026 National GP Patient Survey and the Friends and Family test. We asked the provider to share details of our Give Feedback on Care system with patients however, we did not receive any responses. People were positive about the quality of their care and treatment. They described how staff treated them with kindness and compassion and respected their privacy. This was mirrored in the results of recent surveys, including the 2026 National GP Patient Survey, which showed most people were satisfied. For example, 79% of respondents to the survey responded positively to their overall experience of their GP practice. This was comparable with the national average of 77%. The practice was in the process of establishing a patient participation group (PPG) to represent the views of people using the service.