Holmside Medical Group

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 85 (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. National GP Patient Survey data reflected people felt listened to and were treated with kindness. In the most recent National GP Patient Survey the results for patients who stated that during their last appointment, the healthcare professional was very good or fairly good at listening to them was 90.3% compared to the national average of 86.9%.

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 was exceptional in how they made sure people’s care, support and treatment met people’s needs and preferences. The service 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.

The practice provided us with data which showed that 89% of patients on the learning disability (LD) register for 2024/2025 had received their annual health check. The expectation from the Quality and Outcomes Framework (QOF), an incentive for GP practices, would expect the practice to achieve between 49 and 80%. The practice have set themselves a target for 2025/2026 of 92%, they shared with us they were on course to achieve 95%.

One of the salaried GPs at the practice led the learning disability service. They had a special interest in this. They had completed a fellowship in learning disabilities, carried out and published an academic audit. The GP worked with a learning disability care coordinator and between them they built a good relationship with a large number of patients, families and carers.

The academic audit the GP had undertaken was regarding offering vaccines to patients with a learning disability against illnesses such as pneumonia, meningitis and bloodstream infections. This was presented in February 2026 at Edgehill University at the Royal College of Physicians in Liverpool and won the poster prize.

The number of health checks had increased over recent years because of the proactive approach taken.

The practice identified and worked hard to improve general patient non-responders. Over a three year period, they increased appointment capacity by 12% while reducing the did not attend (DNA) rate from 4.9% to 4.0%, equating to 394 fewer missed appointments. The practice utilised appointment reminders in specific languages, patient engagement and education.

Frequent non-attenders were looked at closely, the practice updated their DNA policy and have a log of patients who frequently do not attend their appointment. They created a structure to ensure patients had the opportunity to share any additional needs which needed accommodating. A review of these patients demonstrated a reduction in non-attendance of 27% for the last six months.

The practice under took targeted improvement work with minority groups. In 2023 they completed a Quality Improvement Project focused on improving health screening awareness for transgender and non-binary patients. An initial audit identified that no patients had been specifically coded from this group as having received screening advice. Patients were contacted directly to provide appropriate screening information and follow up was offered where requested. A reaudit demonstrated that 81% of patients had subsequently received screening advice and clinical coding was in place to ensure screening was carried out in the future.

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.

The practice had carers champions who were trained to support carers and be aware of where to refer them for extra support. They highlighted where information was available and maintained carer information boards.

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. Staff we spoke with knew the process for referral to emergency support, including mental health crisis teams.

In the most recent National GP Patient Survey the results for patients who stated that during their last appointment, the healthcare professional was very good or fairly good at listening to them was 90.3% compared to the national average of 86.9%.

We contacted 1 of the care homes where the practice has patients as residents. The care home manager told us the practice were very responsive and caring for the residents and they had a good relationship. One of the GP partners and a nurse provided a ward round and was accompanied by healthcare professionals who could provide additional help at different times, such as a dietician and behavioural help specialist. All patients had received advance care planning. The practice were particularly responsive to patients who required end of life care.

The service always cared about and promoted the wellbeing of their staff and was exceptional at supporting and enabling staff to always deliver person-centred care.

We received consistent and overwhelmingly positive feedback from staff about working at the practice. Staff were proud of the organisation and spoke highly of the culture and how they were valued. There were high levels of staff engagement and development. Staff were actively encouraged to raise concerns.

Staff gave us numerous examples of where they had challenges in their personal lives and at work, challenging events locally and within the team at work. The management at the practice had given them exceptional support, advice and assistance during these times. Managers would check in with them through the day to ensure their wellbeing. Staff said that nothing was ever a problem to the management in terms of supporting them.

The practice produced newsletters for staff quarterly. These were put in place following staff feedback. They gave information on the practice values, freedom to speak up guardian and staff survey results and actions.

The practice carried out a staff survey in September 2025. The main feedback from this was that the staff were highly committed and supportive who valued patient care and teamwork. The key challenges staff identified were, staffing pressures, communication consistency, reception workload, and building environment issues. The practice put an action plan in place to address this.

Staff told us, and managers explained how they had arranged wellness activities and gifts for staff. They had given them gift bags containing items such as chocolates, notebooks and candles. Wellbeing quotes would be left on desks for staff coming in on a morning; this had happened after challenging times. There were gifts at Christmas from the partners and activities such as find the Christmas elf with a prize. Group activities such as get togethers, cooking classes and ‘circus school’. Wellness was seen by managers as a leadership responsibility, and it was a shared value. The practice held the Better Health at Work Award which they achieved silver status in 2022. This was an award from the Northern Trades Union Council (TUC) in partnership with NHS England.

Staff told us they felt listened to and they received good support to develop professionally.