Windhill Green 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

Patients were treated with kindness and compassion. Staff protected their privacy and dignity. They treated them as individuals and supported their preferences. Patients had choice in their care and treatment. The service actively supported staff wellbeing.

At our last inspection, we rated this key question as outstanding.At this assessment, the rating has changed to good. At this assessment we found that some of those areas previously regarded as outstanding practice were now embedded throughout the majority of GP practices. Whilst the provider had maintained this good practice, the threshold to achieve an outstanding rating had not been reached. The practice is therefore now rated good for providing caring services.

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 treated patients with kindness, empathy and compassion and respected their privacy and dignity. Should a patient feel uncomfortable discussing their issues at the individual site’s reception desks we were told that they would be able to use a private room. We were told that similar arrangements could be made for breastfeeding mothers.

It was possible to overhear conversations at the reception desks. However, the practice used music to cover these conversations as much as possible. Conversations from within consultation rooms could not be overheard in corridors.

Staff we spoke with fully understood Gillick competency, and there were processes to ensure young adults had control over their own privacy and the amount of parental involvement in managing their care and support.

National GP Patient Survey data showed that patients felt listened to and were treated with kindness. For example, in 2025 89% of respondents said that the healthcare professional they saw or spoke with was good at listening to them during their last appointment. This compared to local and national averages of 87%. In addition, 86% of respondents said the healthcare professional they saw or spoke with was good at treating them with care and concern during their last appointment. This matched the local and national average figures of 86%. We noted that many of the NHS Friends and Family Test responses we reviewed noted the kindness of staff and the support they or family members had received.

The provider had a caring approach to those who had recently been bereaved. This included telephone contacts with family members and the sending of bereavement cards. Family members who were patients at the practice were also able to receive clinical support and could be referred to other support agencies. We saw that the website carried bereavement advice and information.

The practice recognised the needs of specific groups within their community and offered this tailored support. For example, it had been recognised and accredited for supporting service veterans and their families.

We saw that the practice treated patients as individuals, and made sure care, support and treatment met their needs and preferences. Patients’ personal, cultural, social, religious and equality characteristics needs were understood and met. We saw that the communication needs of patients were met. For example, translation and interpretation support, which included British Sign Language support, could be organised, and all sites had a hearing loop installed.

The communication requirements of patients were recorded on the patient record as were other needs, such as necessary physical adjustments, and home visiting requirements. The practice actively supported transgender and non-binary patients and had adopted a trans and non-binary registration and screening protocol to ensure services were consistently delivered to these patients. To facilitate effective consultations and to support patients we saw that longer appointments were available for some patient groups. For example, patients with a learning disability had extended appointments, and could have these organised for quieter times during the day. Recently the practice had also introduced longer 15-minute appointment slots for GPs.

The service promoted their patient’s independence, so they knew their rights and had choice and control over their own care, treatment and wellbeing. We reviewed the National GP Patient Survey data from 2025 as part of our assessment and saw 94% of patients said they were involved as much as they wanted to be in decisions about their care and treatment during their last general practice appointment, this was slightly above the local and national averages of 91%. In addition, 25% of respondents to the survey were offered a choice of appointment location which was well above the local average of 16% and the national average of 14%. Whenever possible patients accessing the service had a choice of appointment types such as face to face or via telephone.

The practice had in place support for transgender patients which included measures to ensure appropriate screening. Frail and or elderly housebound patients were supported by the primary care network home visiting team. Reception staff and others had been trained in the principles of care navigation and were able to signpost patients to services appropriate to their needs including advocacy and community-based services. The practice kept registers of patients who needed additional support, such as young carers, of which they had identified 22.

The practice listened to and understood patient’s needs, views and wishes. Staff responded to patient’s needs in the moment and acted to minimise any discomfort, concern or distress. Requests for appointments were subject to assessment via clinical triage, and this was supported by care navigation to ensure patients received appropriate and responsive care.

Staff we spoke to knew how to respond when a patient needed immediate or urgent attention. There were systems in place to support this, including the use of panic alarms, and availability of emergency equipment. We saw in staff records that they had received training in basic life support and sepsis awareness. In addition, staff that we spoke with were aware of processes for referral to immediate emergency support, which included mental health services.

The practice actively cared for patients in residential care homes and made weekly visits and frequent contacts with patients and their carers. Palliative care patients were supported, and we saw evidence of close partnership working with other stakeholders to ensure their ongoing needs were being met.

The service cared about and promoted the wellbeing of their staff and supported and enabled staff to always deliver person-centred care. The practice had developed and adopted a staff wellbeing policy. At its core was an aim to promote a positive culture which valued staff wellbeing. It included staff roles and responsibilities regarding wellbeing, effective communication, and outlined support available to staff such as via occupational health referrals.

We heard how the practice had supported staff when they wanted to either reduce their working hours or work more flexible hours. Induction processes were in place to assist new staff, and the practice held regular staff appraisals where staff could raise work issues, including those linked to wellbeing. Staff were also able to raise wellbeing concerns directly or give feedback via staff suggestions. Staff told us they were valued by leaders and line managers, and many described the positive relationships they had with managers. Some staff mentioned occasional times of strain and pressure within the practice but felt that this was managed.

In 2022 the service had participated as a pilot site for the Healthy Practice Programme (an externally facilitated support programme which was open to practices in West Yorkshire and aimed to improve the culture and communication within practice teams). Findings from the pilot had led to changes within the practice such as separating out nursing meetings and healthcare assistant meetings, and improvements to communications. The staff survey element of the programme was repeated in 2023 and showed that in 26 of 32 measures staff feedback had improved. For example, in 2022 72% of staff felt that the practice reviewed and acted upon employee feedback. This had risen to 80% in 2023. The practice told us they planned to revisit and repeat elements of the programme to drive forward their organisational development.