The Eaglescliffe 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 outstanding. At this assessment, the rating has changed to good. At this inspection we found that some of those areas previously regarded as outstanding practice were now embedded throughout the majority of GP practices. While 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 80 (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. Representatives from the PPG told us that the practice management always responded to feedback considerately and sensitively.

Arrangements were in place to promote patients’ privacy. The National GP Patient Survey data showed that 94% of respondents found the reception and administrative team at the practice helpful. In addition, 93% of respondents said the healthcare professional they saw at their last appointment was good at treating them with care and concern. These were both higher than the national average.

A patient privacy card was available to patients, which allowed them to point to their medical concern on the card rather than say it aloud.

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.

Patients’ personal, cultural, social, religious and equality characteristics needs were understood and met. Patient communication needs were met to enable them to be fully involved in their care. The National GP Patient Survey data showed that 94% of respondents felt they were involved as much as they wanted to be in decisions about their care and treatment during their last appointment. This was higher than the national average of 91%.

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

There was a policy in place to support staff in identifying carers. Staff helped patients and their carers to access advocacy and community-based services. The National GP Patient Survey data showed that 54% of respondents reported usually getting to see or speak to their preferred healthcare professional, which was higher than the national average of 40%. Representatives from the Patient Participation Group (PPG) told us it was difficult to make an appointment with the GP of their choice. However,CQC received positive feedback from over 100 people. Key themes of this feedback included people’s positive experience of the care they received, and positive experience of referral processes to other services. People also told us they were able to see a doctor of their choice to support continuity of their care.

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. Staff we spoke with knew the process for referral to emergency support.

The service always cared about and promoted the wellbeing of their staff and were exceptional at supporting and enabling staff to always deliver person-centred care.

Staff told us they were valued by leaders. Leaders had taken steps to recognise and meet the wellbeing needs of staff, which included the necessary resources and facilities for safe working, such as regular breaks and rest areas. Staff reported being supported if they were struggling at work, or outside of work. We saw team building activities were established within the practice.

We saw examples of reasonable adjustments that had been made to support staff to work safely. The leadership had conducted a staff survey, in which 100% of staff that responded indicated that they felt supported and would recommend the practice as somewhere good to work. Staff feedback collected by CQC was also positive, with staff describing an open culture with approachable staff at all levels. Staff told us about a number of changes that had been made because of their feedback, that promoted their wellbeing. These included changes to the labelling of appointment slots to facilitate easier booking, changes to working hours, and new uniforms.

People’s experience of a service is driven by a culture that prioritises good wellbeing through inclusivity, active listening, and open conversations. This empowers staff to do their job well and to be well. Since our last assessment, the practice had changed the clinical system they used. We saw evidence of consultation with staff during the transition process, which included staff questionnaires which asked what their preferred method of learning the new system would be, for example, written guides or one-to-one tutorials.

We saw that social media had been utilised by the practice for “Feedback Fridays” in which positive comments received about staff were shared on the practice Facebook page.