- GP practice
The Weardale Practice
Assessment report published 5 October 2026
Contents
Ratings
Our view of the service
Date of Assessment: 21 July 2026. The Weardale Practice is a GP practice and delivers services to approximately 7,123 people under a contract held with NHS England. In addition to the main practice site, there are 2 branch sites at St John’s Chapel Surgery, Bishop Auckland, DL13 1QW, and Wolsingham Surgery, Bishop Auckland, DL13 3AB. During this assessment, we did not conduct a site visit of the branch sites. According to the latest available data, the ethnic make-up of the service area is approximately 98.5% White, 0.5% Asian, 0.7% Mixed, 0.1% Black and 0.2% Other. Information published by the Office for Health Improvement and Disparities shows deprivation within the practice’s population group is in the 5th decile (5 of 10). The lower the decile, the more deprived the practice’s population is relative to others.
This was a focused assessment. We undertook this assessment due to the length of time since our last assessment. We assessed 10 quality statements from across all 5 key questions. This assessment considered the demographics of the people using the practice, the context the provider was working within and how this impacted service delivery. Where relevant, further commentary is provided in the quality statements section of this report.
Staff kept facilities clean and maintained equipment appropriately to ensure people were kept safe. They assessed and managed the risk of infection well and took steps to control the risk of it spreading. There were enough staff with the right skills, qualifications and experience.
Staff supported people to live healthier lives, monitoring their care and treatment to ensure they received positive and consistent outcomes.
Staff treated people with kindness, empathy and compassion, and respected their privacy and dignity.
People could access care, treatment and support when they needed it. Leaders and staff were alert to discrimination and inequality that could disadvantage groups of people who used the practice and sought ways to address any barriers.
The provider had a clear vision and strategy, which considered the needs of the people who used their practice and the wider community. Staff understood their individual roles and responsibilities. Leaders accounted for the actions, behaviours and performance of staff through clear and effective governance processes.
People's experience of this service
As part of our assessment, we reviewed feedback from people who used the practice to understand their views and experience of the practice. This included hearing from people who used the practice at the time of our assessment and reviewing other feedback available to us. People were generally positive about the quality of their care and treatment. They described how staff treated them with kindness and compassion and respected their privacy. This was mirrored in the results of recent surveys, including the 2026 National GP Patient Survey, which showed most people were satisfied. In this survey, 84% of respondents described their overall experience of this GP practice as good. This was higher than the national average of 77%. Feedback from a local care home raised some concerns regarding their relationship with the GP practice. We saw the GP practice had made efforts to engage with this service. There was an active patient participation group (PPG) who represented the views of people using the practice. Representatives from the PPG described how leaders made positive changes because of feedback.