Dr Umadevi Parameswaran Also known as Ashburton Park Medical Practice

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.

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

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 patients’ privacy. For example, there was a space where patients could speak with staff in private at the reception area if required.

National GP Patient Survey data reflected people felt listened to and were treated with kindness. For example, 94% said the healthcare professional they saw or spoke to was good at listening to them during their last general practice appointment. This was compared to the local and national averages of 89% and 87% respectively.

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. For example, for patients with communication needs they automatically booked double appointments so they could have additional time to discuss their needs. They gave advice and displayed posters on how to manage health conditions around religious observances such as fasting periods.

For diabetic patients they also booked appointments with the pharmacist for them to monitor patients’ blood sugar levels if they were fasting for long periods to make sure it was safe.

The service promoted people’s independence, so people knew their rights and had choice and control over their own care, treatment and wellbeing.

Staff helped patients and their carers to access advocacy and community-based services. Staff gave examples which included their staff participating in weekly sessions with a social prescriber at a local church to provide advice and support to patients.

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. Routine appointments could be booked online, in person or over the phone. Urgent appointments were available every day. Extended hours were available 3 day a week from 6.30pm to 7pm. Staff we spoke with knew the process for referral to emergency support, including mental health crisis teams.

The service 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. Staff comments about leaders included the following; “they are helpful and kind”, “approachable” and “empathetic”.

Leaders had taken steps to recognise and meet the wellbeing needs of staff. For example, they went out for a meal at Christmas every year, all staff got their birthday off which was in addition to annual leave. They also gave staff a voucher for a relaxation treats such as a massage to help towards wellbeing.

Staff reported being supported if they were struggling at work. We saw team building days were established within the practice and staff told us they found them valuable.