St Mary’s 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. Staff treated colleagues from other organisations with kindness and respect.

Arrangements were in place to promote patients’ privacy. The 2026 National GP Patient Survey data reflected people felt listened to and were treated with kindness. For example, 91% of respondents felt the healthcare professional at their last appointment was good at treating them with care and concern, compared to 86% nationally and 87% locally.

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.

Results from the 2026 National GP Patient Survey indicated that 96% of patients felt the healthcare professional they saw or spoke to was good at listening to them during their last general practice appointment, compared to 87% nationally and 88% locally. The survey found 87% of patients felt the healthcare professional they saw or spoke to was good at considering their mental wellbeing during their last general practice appointment, compared with 75% nationally and 76% locally.
 

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.

There was a range of appropriate equipment to support and maximise people’s independence and outcomes from care and treatment. Leaders we spoke with demonstrated a willingness to learn from feedback and make improvements where needed.

The results of the 2026 National GP Patient Survey showed that 96% of respondents felt that during their last appointment they were involved as much as they wanted to be in decisions about their care and treatment, compared with 92% nationally and locally.
 

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 and doctors available on-site each day, providing real-time clinical oversight and support to manage any immediate patient needs.

All staff were trained in basic life support and sepsis awareness training. Patients were advised on risks related to their condition and actions to take if their condition deteriorated. Staff could recognise a deteriorating patient and knew of action to take and how to alert and respond to emergencies. Staff we spoke with knew the process for referral to emergency support, including mental health crisis teams.

The results of the 2026 GP National Patient Survey showed that 98% of patients felt that they knew what the next step would be after contacting the practice, compared to 84% nationally and locally, and 98% knew what the next step would be within 2 days of contacting their GP practice, compared to 93% nationally and 94% locally.
 

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 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 reasonable adjustments to working environment, regular breaks and rest areas. Staff reported being supported if they were struggling at work. We saw team building days were established within the practice.