Holbrooks Health Team

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 requires improvement. At this assessment, the rating has changed to good. Previous concerns related to reviewing patient feedback and GP Patient Survey Data. On this assessment we found the practice had improved in these areas.

This service scored 71 (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 ensured people were at the centre of decisions about their care and treatment. Staff worked in partnership with individuals to respond to changes in their needs. Care plans were person-centred and reflected people’s physical, mental, emotional, and social needs, including those relating to protected characteristics under the Equality Act. Results from the latest NHS National GP Patient Survey showed that 85% of respondents felt their needs were met during their last appointment. The practice listened to patient feedback and used it to identify areas for improvement and, made appropriate changes to enhance the quality of care provided.

Information about patients’ care and treatment needs were available and shared appropriately between services when required. Services were tailored to meet the diverse needs of the population, with a focus on promoting health education and preventative care initiatives.

The importance of flexibility was evident in the way services were delivered. Systems were in place to alert staff to any specific safety or clinical needs, ensuring that patients received appropriate and coordinated care, such as electronic flags on the practice system.

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

Information to promote the uptake of screening and immunisation programmes was available in a range of languages. The practice had access to interpreter services, including British Sign Language (BSL). Information provided by the service met the Accessible Information Standard (AIS). Patients were informed as to how to access their care records.

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. Learning from complaints was evident and staff were able to identify changes made as a result of patient feedback, including complaints. The provider had feedback forms for patients to complete in reception, and they had an active patient participation group (PPG).

The service made sure that people could access the care, support and treatment they needed when they needed it.

According to the National GP Patient Survey data, 73% of patients responded positively to their overall experience of contacting the practice, which was slightly below the National Average of 75%. The GP Patient Survey further showed that 46% of patients found it easy to contact the practice by phone, compared with the national average of 53%.

In response to the National GP Patient Survey data and from feedback from members of the community the provider had identified changes to improve access to the service. For example, they met with the PPG to look at the telephony service, they were able to implement call back systems, multiple call options for navigating patients, mobilise staff to meet the morning call demand and the introduction of online triage forms.

However, the practice was still performing below local and national averages, until a repeat survey we cannot be assured that improvements have been effective.

Staff and leaders actively listened to information about people who are most likely to experience inequality in experience or outcomes and tailored their care, support and treatment in response to this.

Feedback provided by people using the practice, both to the provider as well as to CQC, was mainly positive. Staff treated people equally and without discrimination. Leaders proactively sought ways to address any barriers to improving people’s experience and worked with local organisations. Staff understood the importance of providing an inclusive approach to care and made adjustments to support equity in people’s experience and outcomes. The provider had processes to ensure people could register at the practice, including those in vulnerable circumstances such as homeless people and Travellers. Staff used appropriate systems to capture and review feedback from people using the practice, including those who did not speak English or have access to the internet. On inspection we found a vast amount of information in the form of notice boards and leaflets around patient areas. We found staff were up to date with training in equality and diversity and on inspection we observed staff demonstrating their knowledge.

The practice also acquired specialist asthma and Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease consultancy on site as recent review of their practice population identified a need, this service is provided once a month to support patients.

People were supported to plan for important life changes, so they could have enough time to make informed decisions about their future, including at the end of their life.

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