Village Surgery

On this page

• Overview
• Assessing needs
• Delivering evidence-based care and treatment
• How staff, teams and services work together
• Supporting people to live healthier lives
• Monitoring and improving outcomes
• Consent to care and treatment

People were involved in assessments of their needs. Staff reviewed assessments taking account of people’s communication, personal and health needs. Care was based on latest evidence and good practice. Staff worked with all agencies involved in people’s care for the best outcomes and smooth transitions when moving services. Staff made sure people understood their care and treatment to enable them to give informed consent. For people who lacked capacity, appropriate processes were in place to ensure people’s best interests were considered.

We looked for evidence that staff involved people in decisions about their care and treatment and provided them advice and support. Staff regularly reviewed people’s care and worked with other services to achieve this.

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

This service scored 79 (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 made sure people’s care and treatment was effective by assessing and reviewing their health, care, wellbeing and communication needs with them.

Feedback from people using the service was positive. People felt involved in any assessment of their needs and felt confident that staff understood their individual and cultural needs. All staff were aware of the needs of the local community. Reception staff used digital flags within the care records system to highlight any specific individual needs, such as the requirement for longer appointments or for a translator to be present. Staff checked people’s health, care, and wellbeing needs during health reviews. Clinical staff used templates when conducting care reviews to support the review of people’s wider health and wellbeing. These templates were regularly reviewed by practice leaders.

The provider had effective systems to identify people with previously undiagnosed conditions. The practice had recently carried out an audit regarding carers within the practice to ensure this was up to date and accurate.

Staff could refer people with social needs, such as those experiencing social isolation or housing difficulties, to a social prescriber.

The service planned and delivered people’s care and treatment with them, including what was important to them. They did this in line with legislation and current evidence-based good practice and standards. We reviewed documentation of reviews taking place which were written in a holistic manner.

Systems were in place to ensure staff were up to date with evidence-based guidance and legislation. Clinical records we saw demonstrated care was provided in line with current guidance. Clinicians had time set aside for peer review of clinical notes and conduct meaningful feedback sessions with their colleagues.

The service worked well across teams and services to support people. They made sure people only needed to tell their story once by sharing their assessment of needs when people moved between different services. The practice had strong links within the PCN (Primary Care Network) with access to out of hours provision, access in terms of appointments with clinicians and others at different locations. The practice linked in well with other services offered across the area including vaccination programmes, sexual health clinics and lifestyle advice.

Staff had access to the information they needed to appropriately assess, plan, and deliver people’s care, treatment, and support. The practice worked with other services to ensure continuity of care, including where clinical tasks were delegated to other services. The practice had a particularly good reputation in the local community for safeguarding and sharing appropriate information in the best interests of patients and their families.

The service supported people to manage their health and wellbeing to maximise their independence, choice and control. The service supported people to live healthier lives and where possible, reduce their future needs for care and support.

Staff focussed on identifying risks to patients’ health, including those in the last 12 months of their lives, patients at risk of developing a long-term condition and those with caring responsibilities. Staff supported national priorities and initiatives to improve population health, including stopping smoking and tackling obesity.

The practice utilised space in the waiting rooms to advocate for healthy living and signposting to services and support for patients. This included visuals on the importance of healthy eating, smoking cessation and exercise. For example, the practice signposted patients struggling with weight loss to a health coach. They advocated for all age ranges and sexes to get involved and the benefits to them. Patient feedback we saw showed they appreciated the hard work practice staff put in to advocate healthy choices.

The practice, recognising the importance of advocacy, had designated leads for veterans, cancer, carers, sepsis and domestic abuse. These named leads had enhanced training and had access to support networks across the PCN to be able to source and tailor support for patients. For example, the practice was able to provide support to a patient they understood to be homeless and engaged with a local homeless charity. The practice engaged with the local authority on behalf this patient to try and get an appropriate outcome.

The practice organised walks for all patients as part of the practices ‘feel good and get-well initiative’ and staff from the practice went into local schools to engage with students on the services the practice provided, highlighting the benefits of a career in primary care.

The service routinely monitored people’s care and treatment to continuously improve it. They ensured that outcomes were positive and consistent, and that they met both clinical expectations and the expectations of people themselves.

The practice met national targets for screening and immunisations. From the clinical notes we reviewed, we found that people who used the service experienced positive outcomes as set out in legislation, standards, and evidence-based clinical guidance.

There was a commitment and culture of working collaboratively and staff and teams had found innovative and efficient ways to deliver more joined-up care and support to people. For example, the practice introduced novelty reminders for breast screening and cervical smears (bras and butterflies) that staff could give to patients and were also put around the practice as visual reminders. They had relevant contact details on to book appointments as well as very brief overviews of the importance to attend. The practice introduced them following a review of the health needs of patients as well as recognition that the practice wasn’t achieving national targets. The practice had seen a steady increase in engagement from patients; from NHS England snapshot in 2024 stating 73% of women aged 25-49 (against a national target of 80%) to unverified practice data from January 2026 stating 81% of women aged 25-49 had a smear test.

All staff were aware to remind patients at all opportunities the positives about attending cancer screenings and the importance of immunisations particularly for children and elderly patients.

The service told people about their rights around consent and respected these when delivering person-centred care and treatment.

Staff understood and applied legislation relating to consent and recorded this appropriately. Do not attempt cardiopulmonary resuscitation (DNACPR) decisions were appropriate and were made in line with relevant legislation. Staff training was all up to date.

We saw evidence to confirm that people's capacity and ability to consent was taken into account, and they, or a person lawfully acting on their behalf, were involved in planning, managing and reviewing their care and treatment.