Sheepcot Medical Centre

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. This key question has been rated as requires improvement. The service was in breach of legal Regulation 17(1) and 17(2), Good Governance, of The Health and Social Care Act 2008 (Regulated Activities) Regulations 2014.

This service scored 55 (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 treated people with kindness, empathy and compassion and respected their privacy and dignity. Staff treated colleagues from other organisations with kindness and respect. Arrangements were in place to promote patients’ privacy. The 2024 National GP Patient Survey data reflected people felt listened to and were treated with kindness and was in line with local and national averages. Staff we spoke with understood Gillick competency (Those aged 16 or over are entitled to consent to their own treatment)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.

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

The service did not always promote people’s independence, so people did not always know their rights and did not always have choice and control over their own care, treatment and wellbeing. For example, we did not see evidence of any documented actions taken to respond to patient feedback. For example, for any friends and family feedback or National GP Patient Survey data collated, there was no clear audit process to document what changes had been made or if changes were monitored. Although staff helped patients and their carers to access advocacy and community-based services, we found that 17 out of 31 staff had not completed privacy and dignity training.

The service did not always listen and understood people’s needs, views and wishes. Staff did not always respond to people’s needs in the moment and acted to minimise any discomfort, concern or distress. We found that 20 out of 31 staff had not completed health navigation training. There was a system for appointment triage that ensured people with immediate needs had access to services. Staff we spoke with knew the process for referral to emergency support, including mental health crisis teams. Patient survey data was not audited in a clear manner to document what changes had been made as a result of patient feedback. The provider acknowledged this was an area to strengthened. Following our inspection, the provider sent an action plan of how this would be achieved.

The service did not always care about and promote the wellbeing of their staff and did not always enable staff to always deliver person-centred care. Staff told us they were valued by leaders. Leaders had taken steps to recognise and meet the wellbeing needs of staff, which included the necessary resources and facilities for safe working, such as regular breaks and rest areas. Staff reported being supported if they were struggling at work. We saw team building days were established within the practice. Staff had access to an occupational health service. We did observe that 19 out of 31 staff had not completed equality and diversity training. The last staff survey had been completed in 2022. The practice were aware of this and told us they were planning a new staff survey.