The Grove Medical Centre

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 Good. At this assessment, the rating remains the same.

This service scored 68 (out of 100) for this area. Find out what we look at when we assess this area and How we calculate these scores.

Staff placed people 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 patients were supported to understand their condition and were involved in planning for their care needs. Results from the National GP Survey 2025 showed 89% of participants felt they were involved as much as they wanted to be in decisions about their care and treatment during their last general practice appointment. The local average was 88% and 91% national average.

Leaders explained they now met regularly with multi-agency staff to discuss and improve outcomes for people with complex needs. Patients could book appointments online, through the digital hub or by telephone, longer appointments were offered to those with more complex needs. People in vulnerable circumstances were able to register with the practice, including those with no fixed abode such as homeless people and Travellers. The practice provided support to a local residential care home which had 9 service users. Overall, the care home staff reported a high level of satisfaction with the quality of care provided by the practice.

The practice mostly supplied appropriate, accurate and up-to-date information in formats that were tailored to individual needs. Patients were informed as to how to access their care records.

Data from the National GP Patient Survey 2025 showed that only 22% found it easy to contact this GP practice using their website. This result was lower than the local (47%) and national results (51%). Staff told us that information on the practice website was updated on a regular basis. Feedback from the 2025 National GP Patient Survey showed that 89% of patients felt the healthcare professional they saw had all the information they needed about them during their last appointment.

The practice complied with the Accessible Information Standard and staff had completed training. Staff had access to the data protection and accessible information policies online. There were arrangements in place for people who needed translation services.

Healthwatch Waltham Forest shared patient experience data from 1 January 2025 to 31 January 2025 which indicated that themes relating to support and communication were positive overall, with patients reporting feeling well supported, appropriately informed, and involved in decisions about their care.

The practice enabled people to share feedback and ideas, or raise complaints about their care, treatment and support. The practice had a patient participation group and reviewed GP survey feedback. The practice manager was the lead for complaints and carried out the investigations and completed the responses. We examined a sample of complaints and found all had been managed satisfactorily and in a timely manner. We saw from meeting minutes that complaints were a standing agenda in the meeting. The practice had a complaints policy last reviewed in April 2025. We saw complaints were managed in line with the service’s policy. The complaints policy was available on the practice website and included information for patients about how to contact theParliamentary and Health Service Ombudsman.

The practice had not carried out their own patient survey but had monitored feedback from online reviews and reviewed NHS friends and family feedback in 2025 to identify where improvement is required. The Friends and Family Test is a survey that gathers feedback from people who use NHS services about their experience.

National patient survey feedback showed staff ensured patients could mostly access the care, support, and treatment they needed in a timely way. For example, 55% stated their experience of contacting the practice was good overall and 48% stated it was easy to contact the practice on the phone, which were both above the national and local averages. Only 22% stated contact through their website was either fairly or very easy. Patients were able to book appointments in advance, and the service promoted the use of the NHS App. However, only 35%found it easy to contact their GP practice using the NHS App. This was lower than the local (45%)and national result (49%). The practice manager explained they were making improvements to the website, which now enabled patients to access appointments online.

Leaders told us they had identified concerns in online feedback, particularly around access and communication and began actively monitoring feedback and reviews and implementing improvements to clinical triage, improving patient communication and regular review of feedback at practice meetings. Staff told us online reviews had improved and reflected positive experiences of listening, care and clinical quality.

The practice was open from 8.00 am to 6.30 pm Monday to Friday, and patients had access to out of hours services in the weekday evenings and at weekends. Face to face, online. telephone appointments and home visits were available either as urgent or routine. Staff had access to telephone call data which they reviewed weekly. People could access the service to suit their needs for example online, in person and by telephone. Treatment rooms were available on the ground floor and there was a ramp and automatic door at the entrance to the practice. The service had implemented an on-call duty GP list to enable the prioritisation of patients with urgent needs. The practice supported receptionists to correctly triage and refer patients to other services if appropriate. In addition, reception staff had completed care navigation training.

The 2025 National GP Patient Survey does not request a response from patients who are specifically experiencing inequalities. The results for the patients’ experience of contacting the practice, whether reception staff were helpful, andcontacting by phone, were all below both the national and local averages. Only 22% stated contact through their website was either fairly or very easy.

We were provided with patient feedback from the local Healthwatch Community Insight System (1 January 2025 to 31 January 2026) which included 344 responses about The Grove Medical Centre. Overall feedback was positive: 306 positive, 2 neutral and 36 negative (89% positive, 10% negative). Negative feedback mainly related to access, where sentiment was 68% positive, 2% neutral and 30% negative, regarding appointment booking and waiting times for routine appointments.

Staff and leaders considered the needs of people with different protected characteristics and made reasonable adjustments to support equity in experience and outcomes. Patients had access to a social prescriber, health and wellbeing adviser, and physiotherapist. The practice had accessible features for patients with disabilities. The provider had processes to ensure people could register at the practice, including those in vulnerable circumstances such as homeless people and Travellers.

The practice submitted unverified data from 2 January 2026 to 30 January 2026, which demonstrated the practice had carried out 1640 appointments with clinical staff, of these 306 were face to face, 1315 were telephone appointments, 6 were home visits and 13 were rapid response visits.

Staff used appropriate systems to capture and review feedback from people using the service, including those who did not speak English or have access to the internet. We found people had multiple ways to provide feedback. This included through NHS websites, the complaints process, the NHS Friends and Family Test (FFT) and the national patient survey. When a patient submitted an online consultation, they could opt in to taking a short survey.

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. Staff kept a palliative care register and told us patients were reviewed according to their needs and discussed during practice staff meetings. The service had processes in place to review if care and preferences had been met in line with patient wishes.