Merridale Medical Centre - RP Tew

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.

There was a culture of kindness and respect within the practice. The practice always treated people with empathy and compassion and respected their privacy and dignity. The National GP Patient Survey Data demonstrated that 83% of respondents felt they were treated with care and concern during their last appointment, which was in line with the national average.

Staff demonstrated that they considered patients’ specific needs and wishes. They gave us examples about how they treated patients with kindness and compassion to support them. For example, for patients over the age of 75, staff proactively managed their prescriptions by automatically ordering their repeat medications, to reduce the burden on both patients and their carers.

Arrangements were in place to promote patients’ privacy. For example, private areas were available if patients wanted a quieter area, chaperones were available, privacy curtains were in clinical rooms. During the site visit, we observed staff being helpful and polite to patients and a culture of kindness and respect between colleagues.

The practice treated patients as individuals and made sure their care, support and treatment met their needs and preferences. Personal, cultural, social, religious and equality characteristic needs were understood and met. Staff had completed equality and diversity training. To accommodate individual needs, patient’s individual requirements were recorded on their patient record. For example, patient communication needs such as translation or interpretation support, or British Sign Language were recorded so staff were aware this might need to be organised prior to the appointment. For patients that had difficulty using technology, information could be printed on paper if this was preferred.

The practice promoted patients’ independence and supported them to make decisions about their care, treatment and wellbeing. They provided patients with information and guidance to enable them to make informed decisions about their care.National GP Patient Survey data showed that 83% of the respondents felt involved as much as they wanted to be in decisions about their care and treatment during their last general practice appointment, which was slightly below the national average of 91%. 52% of respondentswere offered a choice of time or day when they last tried to make a general practice appointment, which was in line with the national average of 54%. Staff ensured that all necessary information was accessible between services to ensure patient preferences were met to support and maximise patient’s independence and outcomes from care and treatment.

The practice listened to and understood patients’ needs, views and wishes. Staff responded to patients’ needs in the moment and acted to minimise any discomfort, concern or distress. Staff we spoke with knew how to respond when a patient needed urgent attention and knew the processes to follow to ensure emergency support was given. For example, staff had undertaken sepsis training and staff showed us their reception “Bible” which was a handbook with emergency procedures for the telephone. These included a suicidal patient protocol; suspected sepsis protocol; chest pain protocol; suspected meningitis protocol; and suspected stroke protocol. Staff told us they could also send an urgent task on the clinical system to the duty GP if they needed any help to determine the urgency of patient needs.

There was a system for clinical appointment triage that ensured people with immediate needs had access to services. There was a duty GP that reviewed people’s queries and various appointments were available such as face to face, online or by telephone.

The reception team had been trained to signpost patients to the appropriate service and clinician such as musculoskeletal conditions to the First Contact Physiotherapy service; foot conditions to the Podiatry service; and 7 common conditions including earache, sore throat, and urinary tract infections to the Pharmacy First service.

The social prescribers could also offer support and signpost to other relevant services to meet the needs of patients.

The practice cared about and promoted the wellbeing of their staff. Leaders told us they supported and valued their colleagues. All of the staff we spoke with during our site visit gave positive feedback about the practice. For example, staff told us they felt they worked well as a team, and colleagues supported one another.

Leaders had taken steps to recognise and meet the wellbeing needs of staff. For example, we were provided with evidence of a practice Staff Wellbeing policy which gave information on the provision of initiatives which were provided or signposted for staff. These included access to confidential counselling and flexible working options where possible. Leaders told us they changed working patterns to accommodate staff during religious fasting periods. In addition, the practice had created a dedicated ablution space in the shower room and allowed the meeting room to be used as a prayer room to accommodate staff.