The Northolme Practice

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 the service met people’s needs, and 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 75 (out of 100) for this area. Find out what we look at when we assess this area and How we calculate these scores.

We did not look at Person-centred Care during this assessment. The score for this quality statement is based on the previous rating for Responsive.

We did not look at Care provision, Integration and continuity during this assessment. The score for this quality statement is based on the previous rating for Responsive.

We did not look at Providing Information during this assessment. The score for this quality statement is based on the previous rating for Responsive.

We did not look at Listening to and involving people during this assessment. The score for this quality statement is based on the previous rating for Responsive.

The service made sure people could access the care, support and treatment they needed when they needed it.

Patients were able to make appointments in person, and via the telephone, practice website and an online consultation tool. Both urgent/same day and pre-bookable appointments were available. The service offered early morning appointments, and working with their Primary Care Network were able to offer patients evening and weekend appointments. The service had recently introduced a centralised triage hub to improve the assessment of patient needs and manage appointment requests. We saw that patient contact and appointment availability had increased. In March 2025 10,602 appointments/service contacts were available, of which 9,995 had been booked. This had risen in March 2026 to 12,130 being available and 11,158 being booked.

The service performed better than both local and national averages in the results of the 2025 National GP Patient Survey. This showed people could access the service when they needed it in a way that suited their needs, such as by telephone, in person or through the service’s website. For example, 79% of respondents to the survey found it easy to contact the GP practice using their website, this compared favourably when compared to local and national averages of 49%.

Dedicated parking was available for those with a disability, and physical access to the waiting areas and treatment rooms was good. For example, consultation and treatment rooms were available on the ground floors of both sites.

Staff and leaders actively listened to information about people who were most likely to experience inequality in experience or outcomes. They tailored their care, support and treatment in response to this.

Staff treated people equally and without discrimination. The service proactively sought ways to address any barriers to improving people’s experience and worked with local services, to address any local health inequalities. Staff were able to support those with additional needs, this included those with language and communication needs via access to translation and interpretation services, and also by providing longer appointments where these were needed by elderly patients, or those with more complex needs. In addition, we saw that the practice delivered services to elderly or more vulnerable within the community. For example, they supported patients who resided in 2 local care homes. Services offered to these patients included regular site visits, ad hoc call outs, and structured communication with care home managers to ensure services were appropriate, or if changes to care and treatment was required. Feedback from 1 of these care homes was very positive regarding the care and treatment their residents received. In addition, working with their primary care network the practice had access to an aging well practitioner who worked with other stakeholders to support frail, elderly patients and prevent deterioration. As an example of other activities to improve outcomes for at risk patients we saw that the service had also undertaken work with chronic kidney disease patients outside usual operating hours by contacting patients at weekends during March 2026 to discuss primary prevention and statin use.

We did not look at Planning for the future during this assessment. The score for this quality statement is based on the previous rating for Responsive.