Trinity Medical Centre

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

We looked for evidence that the service met people’s needs, and that staff treated people equally and without discrimination.

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

This service scored 82 (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 patients were at the centre of their care and treatment choices. Patients had access to appointments and clinics provided by clinicians including GPs, advanced nurse practitioners, and members of the nursing team as well as being able to be referred to other specialist services. GP Care Wakefield was delivered as an extension of the patient’s own practice and had processes in place to access and share care records, and to contact practices should the patient require any follow up or need action for ongoing concerns.

Service developments were informed by patient feedback including complaints and NHS Friends and Family Test comments. The service also utilised technology to put patients at the centre of their care. For example, the service enabled patients to book their long-term condition reviews and cervical screening appointments, as well as appointments into specialist services through SMS. Where patients don’t respond by SMS, a phone call is made to them to ensure those unable to use the technology were not disadvantaged.

Care plan templates used by the service reflected the mental, physical and emotional needs of patients as well as patient voice, preferences and goals.

Staff had received induction awareness and training in areas such as communication skills, and mental capacity to support specific population needs, as well as training to support specific population groups such as those with a learning disability or autism. Performance and development review records included person-centred values, and this was part of the organisation’s competency framework.

Care delivery reflected physical, mental, emotional, and social needs of patients including those related to protected characteristics under the Equality Act. Furthermore, the service respected the individual preferences of patients, and whenever possible when making an appointment patients were able to choose the type of appointment and location of site.

The service had a clear 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.

The service worked closely with its constituent partners in both individual practices and primary care networks and sought to develop and deliver local services built on recognised need. As an example, following public engagement and patient feedback, coupled with analysis of appointment utilisation, the service had recently added a further extended hours delivery location in Featherstone. Other services developed by Conexus Healthcare CIC to meet local need included a respiratory project to tackle Wakefield’s higher rates of conditions such as chronic obstructive pulmonary disease - COPD (2.7% locally against 1.9% nationally) and asthma (7.2% locally against 6.5% nationally). Actions included case finding for undiagnosed patients, proactive outreach by administration and nursing staff and diagnostic clinics. In total this partnership project had undertaken 274 diagnostic tests from September 2025 to April 2026, and these had resulted in 68 new COPD diagnoses, 22 new asthma diagnoses, and led to 247 structured clinical evaluations being carried out. Furthermore, a monthly multi-disciplinary team meeting was used to increase local knowledge of clinicians in respect of respiratory management with 94% of responding GPs reporting they felt more confident in managing patient care following these MDTs. The service also supported seasonal planning and delivery and between November and February ran acute respiratory infection hubs.

Similarly, the service was working with other partners to develop a dedicated women’s health hub to enable more effective service delivery closer to home. At the time of our assessment the service was already delivering 2 specialist clinics each month for IUS (intrauterine system) and pessary fitting.

The service had integrated care pathways and agreements established with partners such as NHS 111 and Yorkshire Ambulance Service, and shared records to allow patient information to be shared effectively. Patients had seamless continuity of care. For example, patients who had undergone fractional exhaled nitric oxide breathing tests undertaken by GP Care Wakefield, had their results sent to their own practice for interpretation and if required ongoing support. For repeat patients we heard that staff had been made aware of Jess’s Rule (an NHS primary care initiative in England launched in September 2025, which requires GP teams to "reflect, review, and rethink" a diagnosis if a patient presents three times with the same or escalating unresolved symptoms). The service also analysed frequent attenders to better understand their reasons and needs in attending the service.

To support their use and understanding of data and local needs Conexus Healthcare CIC had a business information analyst in post.

The service supplied appropriate, accurate and up-to-date information in formats that were tailored to individual needs.

The Conexus Healthcare CIC and GP Care Wakefield webpages were detailed and carried full details of their services including appointment times, services on offer, and locations. It was also clear to patients when the service was not available for some routine matters such as repeat prescribing.

Adjustments were made to support the communication needs of patients; this included the use of translation and interpretation services, the availability of hearing loops at all sites, and the provision of easy read materials explaining care and treatment. Individual communication needs were noted on the patient’s record and were available to the service to support their consultations. Leaders and managers told us that they recognised some members of their population struggled with technology and said that staff were available to help patients if they needed individual support accessing information or understanding their care. We saw that information provided by the service met the Accessible Information Standard.

The service recognised that patients may not retain all information during their consultation as a result SMS messages with information about the patient’s condition or treatment was sent for them to read after their appointment. These SMS messages were built into templates used by clinicians. Patients attending for NHS Health Checks were also given a results card with information about what had been discussed during their appointment.

Communication with partner GP practices was effective and a cloud-based digital collaboration platform was used by their local primary care networks to access the GP Care Wakefield team.

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.

From its inception we saw that GP Care Wakefield was co-designed as an extended hours service with input from partners, stakeholders and service users.For example, feedback from around 8,500 respondents was used during initial service planning.Further developments such as establishing an additional extended hours site in Featherstone we saw was based on the needs of local practices, service utilisation data showing lower numbers of patients from this area attending existing sites, and feedback indicating an inability to travel further afield for services.Since opening the new Featherstone location utilisation of appointments from the primary care network covering that population had risen from 83.6% in September 2025 to 90.2% in September 2027, representing an increase of 633 appointments utilised per year.

Complaints were effectively managed and reviewed. We saw that complaints and NHS Friends and Family responses were discussed at weekly clinical services meetings, and that learning from feedback was implemented to support quality improvement. Staff were aware of how to handle complaints and followed the organisations processes. As well as the use of the NHS Friends and Family test, which was sent to all patients, the service sought feedback from patients who had attended other clinics and projects. For example, 94% of patients who attended the respiratory project rated it as very good or good.

Service feedback to complainants was detailed and met national guidelines including discussing possible escalation routes. The service also maintained links with their local Healthwatch.

The service was exceptional at ensuring people could access the care, support and treatment they needed when they needed it.

The service offered extended hours services and other projects and supporting activities to up to approximately 401,000 people in the Wakefield and district area. The extended hours service covered all 7 primary care networks across 7 locations. We saw that the choice of the main service site and other GP practice hosted locations had been decided by using partner and stakeholder feedback, patient engagement and needs data. Other factors such as accessibility to bus routes had also been used when deciding locations. Specific projects such as their respiratory project work and women’s health service had also been put in place to meet need and tackle identified health inequalities.

The service was operated by a core of substantive leaders, managers and support staff, with extended hours and other projects and clinics services being staffed by sessional GP’s, other health professionals, and reception staff. Should patients require additional support to access services such as language support, this was available.

During our onsite visit we saw that waiting areas and treatment rooms were accessible, and that parking was available including for those with disabilities.

From July 2025 to July 2026 the service offered 124,633 appointments, of which 111,070 (89%) had been utilised. Weekly averages showed average capacities of 221 routine GP appointments, 599 routine nursing team appointments and 1,490 same day clinical appointments.

The service offered a range of appointment types which included urgent/same day appointments, routine GP appointments and pre-bookable nurse and healthcare assistant appointments including long-term condition reviews. Other services included acute respiratory infection hubs operated seasonally, a respiratory project, women’s health clinics, and other clinics for activities such as cytology, spirometry, travel vaccinations, and NHS health checks.

Access routes into the service were flexible and included remote booking direct from Wakefield and district GP practices, bookings made direct from patients diverted out of hours from Wakefield and district GP practices by telephone or in person, and referrals and patient transfers from NHS 111, Accident and Emergency services, local walk in services and the out of hours service provider Local Care Direct Limited.

Opening hours for GP Care Wakefield were:

• Monday-Friday 16:00-21:30
• Saturday 09:00-17:00
• Sunday 09:00-13:00
• Bank Holidays 09:00-15:00

Site opening days and hours varied across the 7 operating sites. We saw than an additional site had recently been established based on demand and feedback thus improving access.

The service undertook access monitoring and access planning activities. This included auditing waiting times, and rota management to ensure staff availability. We saw that managers adjusted and reprofiled services such as adding capacity when required or by converting same-day capacity to routine pre-bookable appointments during the summer to maximise utilisation year-round. Demand and capacity monitoring was undertaken in real time and ensured that the service didn’t operate over 100% capacity.

GP Care Wakefield also monitored the impacts on other partner organisations of their services. For example, since the introduction of the women’s IUS (intrauterine system) and pessary clinic waiting lists for menopause referrals had fallen 64%, urgent 2-week referrals for unscheduled bleeding by patients on HRT had fallen 30%, and secondary care pessary waiting times had reduced by 34%.

NHS Friends and Family data for the service was positive with 90.9% of patients in 2026 showing satisfaction with GP Care Wakefield. Ratings for individual work such as the respiratory project was also positive with 94% of patients rating this as very good or good.

Staff and leaders were innovative in how they listened to information about people who are 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.

Feedback provided by people using the service, both to the provider as well as to CQC, was positive. Staff treated people equally and without discrimination. Leaders proactively sought ways to address any barriers to improving people’s experiences and worked with local partner organisations to address local health inequalities. This included developing and delivering projects to tackle issues and concerns such as high levels of respiratory ill health. The subsequent respiratory project delivered in conjunction with a local NHS Trust resulted in improved diagnosis rates for conditions, and supported the ongoing care of these patients. The project also saw increases in the training of the local clinical workforce to deliver spirometry. Other actions to tackle local respiratory inequality included undertaking from July 2026 onwards fractional exhaled nitric oxide breathing testing using specialised devices at 6 of their locations. This test allows a more accurate diagnosis of asthma in children and young people

Staff understood the importance of providing an inclusive approach to care and made adjustments to support equity in people’s experience and outcomes. As an example, staff had received training in supporting the needs of patients with a learning disability or autism.

The locations of delivery sites for the extended hours services and specific projects were based on individual needs analysis, stakeholder feedback, and the use of population health data including the Joint Strategic Needs Analysis. The service engaged and sought to support national approaches to tackling health inequalities such as the Core20PLUS5 (a national strategy designed to reduce healthcare inequalities. It defines a specific target population group (Core20PLUS) and highlights 5 key clinical focus areas (5) that require fast improvements to close health gaps). Actions within this strategy included core offers made by the service including tackling chronic respiratory disease, and access to early cancer diagnosis. Data from the service showed that over the previous 6 months the service had made 387 2-week wait urgent cancer referrals for patients, and had undertaken 1,452 cervical screening examinations.

We saw the service analysed patient experience and broke this down by demographic to identify any disparities in experience.

The service 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. There was the ability to directly refer patients into the service from residential care homes. Staff were able to allocate additional time with patients if they needed to discuss complex personal issues.When patients were seen by the service the shared clinical record enabled the service to link with care coordinators within GP practices to continue the care planning of patients.

Staff we interviewed had a good understanding of end of life concerns, and some had completed specific end of life care and advanced care planning training.

All staff were trained in RESPECT (Recommended Summary Plan for Emergency Care and Treatment - a process which summarises and records personalised recommendations for a person’s clinical care in a future emergency in which they are not able to make decisions or to express wishes). Staff training compliance was at 100% across the workforce.