Urban Village Medical Practice

On this page

• Overview
• Person-centred Care
• Care provision, Integration and continuity
• Providing Information
• Listening to and involving people
• Equity in access
• Equity in experiences and outcomes
• Planning for the future

We looked for evidence that the service met people’s needs, and that staff treated people equally and without discrimination.

At our last assessment, we rated this key question as Outstanding. At this assessment, the rating remains the same.

This service scored 93 (out of 100) for this area. Find out what we look at when we assess this area and How we calculate these scores.

Urban Village Medical Practice was exceptional at making sure people who used the Homeless service were at the centre of their care and treatment choices and they decided, in partnership with people, how to respond to any relevant changes in people’s needs.

Care plans reflected physical, mental, emotional, and social needs of patients including those related to protected characteristics under the Equality Act.

Our review of clinical records showed that when these were detailed, patients were supported to understand their condition and participate in planning for their care needs. We saw steps were taken to enable hard to reach people were involved as much as possible in decisions about their future care.

We received more than 140 comments about the practice from patients. The overwhelming majority were very positive and many who gave feedback provided detailed examples that confirmed person centred care with effective outcomes. For example, patients said the practice had helped them get the correct medicines; helped them find a place to live and helped them back to health.

Many patients also described receiving consistent care from single member of staff or small team of keyworkers. People said they trusted their worker, and this helped them in their individual journey to recovery.

Patients described staff as listening to them and being empathetic.

Urban Village Medical Practice had an exceptional understanding of the diverse health and care needs of people and their local communities, so care was joined-up, flexible and supported choice and continuity.

We saw the practice worked in partnership with other services, particularly to reduce the inequality effects for homeless people and the effects of any associated lifestyle.

There were well established mechanisms for engaging with all necessary community health, social care, housing; third-sector providers.

In response to the findings of audits, Urban Village Medical Practice had commissioned a mobile clinic to take services such as health assessments and immunisation to people who found it difficult to access the health centre.

The service spearheaded the development of new roles to facilitate care integration and continuity for homeless people in Manchester.

The service supplied appropriate, accurate and up-to-date information in formats that were tailored to individual needs.

The practice had access to interpreter services, including British Sign Language.

Information provided by the service met the Accessible Information Standard. Patients were informed as to how to access their care records.

Patient were supported to access online services by team members, and, under certain circumstances, there was facility for people to access most services without going online.

Leaders recognised and provided additional support to people who did not speak English and people who did not have computers. However, we reviewed the written feedback sent to complainants and found that information needed to be written more plainly.

The practice specialised in working with people who are homeless and so mostly digitally excluded. We noted leaders took steps to hear the voice of this group. For example, providing printed versions of feedback forms.

The service made it easy for people to share feedback and ideas, or raise complaints about their care, treatment and support. They involved people in decisions about their care and told them what had changed as a result.

We saw complaints were managed in line with the practice’s policy.

The Patient Participation Group (PPG) was made up of a diverse group of people in relation to age, employment status and gender. Representatives described action taken by UVMP leaders to widen the diversity of this group, which included discussions and active recruitment of individuals from under-represented groups. Action taken to enable participation included online meeting and meeting at different times of the day. The practice always sent a representative to meetings and had used the PPG’s collective expertise to make changes and improvements. One example of this was developing the practices social media presence.

In the main, representatives from the PPG felt the provider took concerns seriously and proactively made improvements to the service. Leaders provided evidence of a quality improvement plan aimed at supporting the PPG to identify improvement projects they would like to work on.

The service was exceptional at ensuring people could access the care, support and treatment they needed when they needed it.

In the NHS GP Survey result 2024 the practice performed significantly better than local averages in several areas concerning access for example: relating to feeling they had waited the correct amount of time for their next appointment, 81% of UVMP patients felt they waited the correct amount of time, compared with 68% average for practices in the local area. Relating to ease of getting through on the phone, 72% of UVMP patients felt satisfied, compared, with 57% average for practices in the local area. Furthermore for, ease of using the practice website to contact the practice, 79% of UVMP patients felt satisfied, compared with 54% average for practices in the local area.

People consistently told us the doctors and reception staff were compassionate and competent; they always kept telephone appointments and were quick at sorting repeat prescriptions.

People who identified as having mental health needs such as anxiety said they felt comfortable if they needed to get in touch with the practice. People stated they could get an appointment when needed, many stating that they usually had a consultation within two hours of contacting the surgery.

Many patients praised the use of technology to share test results and book screening tests such as cervical smears. Patients described this easy access to information and booking procedures as reassuring.

People also identified that social events, such as organised health walks with the physiotherapist, doctors and nurses, provided additional less formal access to the practice staff. Examples were given where advice given in a less formal setting resulted in subsequent treatment.

People also commented that weekend appointments had helped increase accessibility.

People reported care and treatment for relatives with autism or learning disabilities was well organised and meeting their needs.

Parents confirmed it was easy to get appointments for their children.

Urban Village Medical Practice leaders respond positively to new initiatives and local priorities and used in-house research to influence other services within the local area.

People could access the service in ways to suit their needs, for example online, in person and by telephone.

The GP partners completed or organised home visits where required.

Urban Village Medical Practice leaders had full understanding of the different barriers to access and were keen to share this knowledge and work with other organisations focused on equality.

People with a learning disability were provided with longer appointments if required.

Treatment rooms were on the ground floor and entry was via an automatic door.

In addition to consulting rooms there was a private room that could be used for nursing mothers or to provide a quiet space.

Leadership took steps to identify gaps in services and were quick to put processes in place to promote improvement.

Urban Village Medical Practice demonstrated how best to offer and provide support in a way that was acceptable to homeless and marginalised individuals.

Staff and leaders were innovative in how they listened to information about people who are most likely to experience inequality in experience or outcomes. Staff and leaders actively used this information to provide exceptionally tailored care, support and treatment in response to this.

The service identified gaps in services for homeless people and took steps to ensure people and those who provided support were given the best chance of a positive outcome.

The PPG described how the health hub approach that has developed due to the work in the Urban Village Medical Practice service for the homeless, had made a positive impact for the general practice population and local people in general. It was felt that UVMP provided information about a lot of community activities, charities and not for profit organisations. The worked closely with established and expected services and took steps to forge new relationships with additional providers when required.

Deprivation within the practice population group is 1, this means people are experiencing financial and social challenges which impact on their physical and mental health.

The deprivation level and turnover of patients meant processes needed to be robust to ensure people’s needs during and immediately after transfer were met. The deprivation level and turnover of patients meant processes for sharing information; monitoring chronic conditions; following-up on test results and achieving national health-promotion targets, were being constantly tested. We assessed that these processes were robust, in that, outcomes for patients were in keeping with or better than practices with a more stable and affluent patient population. Furthermore, the vast majority of patients who commented about their experience of transfer was positive.

Staff and leaders sought information from people who are most likely to experience inequality in experience or outcomes. Staff and leaders actively used this information to provide tailored care, support and treatment.

They were inventive at responding to identified needs and developing partnership working and shared care for the homeless people living in Manchester. Leaders pioneered new ancillary roles to meet the evolving needs of the homeless population.

We saw that staff treated people equally and without discrimination. People told us staff were non-judgmental.

In April 2025 the practice published a report outlining the many areas where the outcomes for homeless people experiencing health inequalities had improved.

The practice took proactive measures to resolve areas proven by research findings to be the most prevalent health impacts of homelessness. The practice looked at how to improve outcomes relating to bloodborne infections; lack of health screening; lack of access to preferred choices of contraception and drug and alcohol dependency. Actions introduced included:

A policy that homeless patients were screened for bloodborne viruses, and other infections, as a part of the new patient assessment, thereby taking the opportunity to offer care and treatment required to protect people from the long-term side effects.

Outreach work and engagement with women who are homeless or rough-sleep, encouraging and supporting them to access cervical screening and contraception to promote safety and meet individual needs. The practice confirmed 72% of the eligible homeless women registered with UVMP, had accepted cervical screening, which met world health organisation target.

In response to research confirming that a majority of homeless people were drug and or alcohol dependent, UVMP leaders worked with local commissioners to develop a discreet service to meet their needs and reduce dependency.

Staff understood the importance of providing an inclusive approach to care and adjusted support in light of people’s experience and outcomes.

We saw that staff used appropriate systems to capture and review feedback from people using the service, including those who did not have access to the internet.

People who were homeless were given exceptional support to plan for important life changes, so they could make informed decisions about their future, including at the end of their life.

People described being given time to discuss important decisions about treatment and care.

Our records review showed people were supported to consider wishes for their end-of-life care, including cardiopulmonary resuscitation. This information was shared with other services when necessary.

We saw leaders identified that end-of-life care for homeless people was disjointed and resulted in people not getting the person-centred care and treatment needed, and they were not cared for in a dignified and controlled setting that would minimise physical and emotional distress. Leaders identified that homeless people sometimes died alone, without dignity, even when a terminal diagnosis had been made and a care plan put in place. The practice worked with a local hospice; housing providers and other local services, helping other services to understand the particular stresses and omissions experienced by homeless people.

Leaders worked with partner palliative care services to develop processes and approaches that met the needs of homeless people better. The provision was improved because access was provided more flexible and targeted towards people who were homeless. This meant patients were better informed about their health conditions and the choices available to them.

Patient feedback to the practice confirmed these actions had made a difference to people receiving palliative care.