Wickham Park Surgery

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 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 always treated people with kindness, empathy and compassion and respected their privacy and dignity. National GP Patient Survey data reflected people felt listened to and were treated with kindness. For example, 84% of patients said that the healthcare professional they saw or spoke to was good at treating them with care and concern during their last general practice appointment.

To ensure dignity and respect were upheld staff told us they always ensure doors were closed during consultations and at reception a private space was available if people and radio was played intentionally in the area to distort sound and maintain privacy.

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

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 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. For example, the practice had access to interpreters who could attend on the same day as they were requested. They also made adjustments for patients with requirements which needed support such as dyslexia where reception staff assisted them to fill in forms and process information they received from the practice.

The service promoted people’s independence, so people knew their rights and had choice and control over their own care, treatment and wellbeing. Our review of clinical records confirmed that people were involved in decisions, and their choices were discussed and documented.

Staff helped patients and their carers to access advocacy and community-based services. Staff gave examples where they helped people who were caring for family members to access advocacy or social prescribing services for extra support.

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. Same day appointments were available, and patients could also book appointments online, outside of the practice opening times.

Staff we spoke with knew the process for referral to emergency support, including mental health crisis teams. Staff were trained to identify signs of people in need of urgent medical attention in the waiting room.

The service cared about and promoted the wellbeing of their staff and supported and enabled staff to always deliver person-centred care.

Staff told us leaders valued them. One person told us, “Leaders are great” another explained how leaders made them feel “seen” and “listened to”. 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. We reviewed a policy relating to staff well-being and saw that the provider had processes in place to support staff.

We saw team building days were established within the practice. For example, they held work “get togethers” in the summer as a way of staff bonding and sharing time together.