Dr Mehboob Bhatti Also known as Sutton Road Surgery

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

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

We assessed all quality statements under the key question caring and found:

People were always treated with kindness, empathy and compassion. Their privacy and dignity were respected. Effort was made to take their wishes into account and respect their choices, to achieve the best possible outcomes for them. This included supporting people to live as independently as possible.

Feedback from partner organisations who worked with the provider was consistently positive about staff and the care provided.

Feedback from the National GP Patient Survey showed the provider’s performance was in line with national averages for indicators relating to care and concern. Friends and family test data was also positive.

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 always 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 people’s privacy

In the National GP Patient Survey 85% of people felt they were treated with care and concern which is in line with national average of 85.5%. Staff we spoke with understood Gillick competency 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.

Staff we spoke with as part of our assessment clearly demonstrated kindness and empathy towards patients and gave examples of how they put people at the heart of their work. All staff spoke about the kindness, caring nature and dedication of the lead GP and this was also reflected in comments made by people we spoke with.

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

People’s personal, cultural, social, religious and equality characteristics needs were understood and met. People’s communication needs were mostly met to enable them to be fully involved in their care. People had access to interpreters including for British Sign Language and the practice provided an interpreter who used a specific form of tactile communication for people who were deaf and blind.

The practice had a room that could be used as a quiet waiting area for people with a learning disability or autism and they tried to book appointments for these people at quieter times of day. Reception staff also alerted clinicians when people with additional needs arrived so they could be taken straight to a clinical room without waiting. Staff used electronic flags on the clinical system to ensure that information about people’s reasonable adjustments, preferences and needs was shared effectively. The practice had 28 people with a learning disability and 25 had attended for an annual health check in the last 12 months. Staff were given 30-minute appointments for these checks and used a holistic approach so that if other tests or reviews were required everything was completed in 1 appointment. For example, within these health checks 3 people also had an asthma review, 1 had a diabetes review, 13 had monitoring blood tests done and 2 had opportunistic cancer screening completed.

The practice had 41 people on their carers register and provided priority health checks and vaccinations to them. A carers coffee morning had been held earlier in the year to provide information and support to those in caring roles which had been well-attended and was going to be repeated in the Spring.

The service promoted people’s independence, so people knew their rights and had choice and control over their own care, treatment and wellbeing. People had access to a choice of appointment days, times and types. The provider actively encouraged people to attend for face-to-face appointments but also offered telephone and home visit appointments. In the National GP Patient Survey 81% of people were offered a choice of day or time for their last appointment, this is above the national average of 54.2%. Staff reported that people had generally responded well to being directed to healthcare professionals other than a GP where appropriate as the practice clinical workforce had expanded with a range of skill mix. Staff offered continuity of care when possible, explaining to people that sometimes this option meant waiting until the specific clinician was next available. In the National GP Patient Survey 84% of people said they got to see their preferred clinician always, almost always or a lot of the time compared with the national average of 40%.

Staff helped people and their carers to access advocacy and community-based services and could refer to a social prescriber for further support. Reception staff were trained in care navigation and signposted or referred people who did not need to see a GP to other sources of care and support such as Pharmacy First. This is a scheme which allows local pharmacies to treat some common conditions with prescription-only medicines.

The service listened to and understood people’s needs, views and wishes. Staff responded to people’s needs in the moment and acted to minimise any discomfort, concern or distress.

There was a system for appointment triage that ensured people with immediate needs had access to services. Reception staff were trained in care navigation and had access to the duty GP if they needed advice or support in order to book people with the correct clinician or signpost them to an appropriate alternative service. An on-line triage system had been introduced and at the time of our assessment all triage requests submitted via this system were responded to on the same day. Evidence from the provider showed they received an average of 7 requests per day. In the National GP Patient Survey 88% of people said they knew what the next step would be in dealing with their request after they had contacted the practice. This is above the national average of 82.5%.

Staff we spoke with knew the process for signposting to emergency support, including mental health crisis teams. All staff had training in recognising the symptoms of sepsis and knew what action to take if a person was acutely unwell. There were leaflets and posters about sepsis displayed around the practice.

Due to the size of the practice and its longstanding presence in the local community the staff knew their patient population well, especially older people and those who attend regularly. This familiarity meant they knew when people needed extra support such as mobility assistance and provided it.

The provider cared about and promoted the wellbeing of their staff and supported and enabled staff to always deliver person-centred care.

Staff told us they were valued by leaders who had taken steps to recognise and meet the wellbeing needs of staff. This included the necessary resources and facilities for safe working, such as regular breaks and rest areas. Staff told us it was a happy workplace with a family feel. Staff we spoke with said leaders were approachable and supportive. All staff had protected time to complete training, with extra time if they had specific lead roles. All staff working in an extended clinical role had protected time every day for clinical supervision. The provider held regular clinical and whole practice meetings and staff said that communication was effective. This was reflected in a recent staff survey where 87.5% of staff surveyed said communication between management and employees was good. Leaders used appraisals to actively encourage staff to consider further qualification and career progression Staff could access occupational health services provided by a local hospital trust. There was a program of social events for staff. The staff survey had been completed in the previous month and had 8 responses from staff at all levels within the practice. Seventy-five per cent of staff said they had a good working relationship with their manager and all of the staff surveyed said they felt their contribution was recognised most or all of the time