The Lonsdale 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

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 80 (out of 100) for this area. Find out what we look at when we assess this area and How we calculate these scores.

We found that the service was committed to treating people with kindness, empathy and compassion and patient feedback was positive.

Staff and leaders we spoke with were committed to providing a caring and compassionate service. National GP Patient Survey data showed that most people felt listened to and had been treated with kindness. For example, 80% of people reported that during their last appointment the healthcare professional was good at treating them with care and concern, which was in line with the national average score for this indicator. Recent direct patient feedback for this assessment was positive about this aspect of the service. People gave examples of how they felt listened to and of care and compassion shown by the whole team when they were experiencing a difficult time. The leaders used patient feedback as part of their assessment of individual clinician and locum performance.

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 aspirations, culture and unique backgrounds and protected characteristics.

Patients’ personal, cultural, social, religious needs were understood and met. Patient communication needs were met to enable them to be fully involved in their care. Patients with more complex needs such as learning difficulties or anxiety were given extended appointments and the timing of appointments could be adjusted to avoid busier times. The practice aimed to provide patients with a learning disability with continuity of care.

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. The practice had put on themed events focusing on carers’ needs at the weekly wellbeing cafe which ran at the practice. The practice had identified 3% of registered patients who were also carers. Carers were invited for an annual health check and could speak with a wellbeing coordinator as part of this process. The practice had started to proactively book telephone calls with people on the carers register to discuss their needs periodically, for example, for respite.

The service was committed to listening to people’s needs, views and wishes. Staff responded to people’s needs in the moment and acted to minimise any discomfort, concern or distress.

The practice had improved appointment accessibility. There was a system to triage appointments to ensure people with immediate needs were able to access the service. Staff at all levels of the practice told us that the introduction of this system worked well and was an improvement. Staff we spoke with knew the process for referral to emergency support, including mental health crisis teams. The practice team had effective links with other services and could escalate concerns quickly, for example, through regular multidisciplinary meetings which were attended by a consultant paediatrician and a CAMHS representative. The GPs could demonstrate examples where they had acted as advocates for patients in vulnerable circumstances to secure more specialist help to meet urgent health needs.

The service cared about and promoted the wellbeing of their staff and supported and enabled staff to 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. One of the salaried doctors was the designated lead for staff wellbeing.

The leaders responded to staff suggestions, for example, installing a gym and fitness area and creating a meditation/prayer room within the practice which had been co-designed by staff members and was open to any member of staff who wished to use it. The staff kitchen area had also been redesigned with advice from an external consultant to enable staff to have meaningful breaks from the stress of frontline duties. Staff described examples of individual support provided to prevent the risk of burnout.

The leaders acted sensitively to resolve performance issues or staff grievances and actively supported staff to de-escalate difficult situations with patients.

Staff were supported to develop work-related interests with study leave.