The Merton Medical Practice

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 staff involved people in decisions about their care and treatment and provided them advice and support. Staff regularly reviewed patients 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.

Patients were involved in assessments of their needs. Staff reviewed assessments taking account of patients’ communication, personal and health needs. Care was based on latest evidence and good practice. Staff worked with all agencies involved in patients’ care for the best outcomes and smooth transitions when moving services. Where patients didn’t have capacity, and staff took decisions about the patient’s care in their best interest, they involved those people who were important to the patient in the decision.

This service scored 75 (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 patients 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 patients felt listened to and were treated with kindness. 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 national GP patient survey data collected between December 2024 and April 2025 reflected patients felt listened to and were treated with kindness. The survey showed 84% of respondents said the healthcare professional they saw or spoke to was good at listening to them during their last appointment, this was slightly below the local average of 89% and the national average of 87%.Data from the survey also showed 82% of respondents said the healthcare professional they saw or spoke to was good at treating them with care and concern during their last general practice appointment which was slightly below the local average of 87% and the national average of 86%.

The practice had completed their own patient survey in September 2025 and provided unverified data which demonstrated higher levels of patient satisfaction.

All clinical rooms had curtains. The practice also had a designated small room that patients could use if they needed a private space.

The service treated patients as individuals and made sure patients’ care, support and treatment met patients’ needs and preferences. They took account of patients’ strengths, abilities, aspirations, culture and unique backgrounds and protected characteristics.

The national GP patient survey data collected between December 2024 and April 2025 showed 90% of patients said they were involved as much as they wanted to be in decisions about their care and treatment the local average was 92% and the national average was 91%.

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. Alerts were put on the clinical system and reception could book longer appointments for patients that required them.

Staff informed us patients would be offered a chaperone, and we saw visible notices displayed in waiting area and clinical areas to support this.

The service promoted patients’ independence, so patients 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 service listened to and understood patients’ needs, views and wishes. Staff responded to patients’ needs in the moment and acted to minimise any discomfort, concern or distress.

There was a system for appointment triage that ensured patients with immediate needs had access to services. Staff we spoke with knew the process for referral to emergency support, including mental health crisis teams.

Staff were alert to patients’ needs and took time to observe, communicate and engage patients in discussions about their immediate needs. The national GP patient survey data collected between December 2024 and April 2025 found 75% of patients knew what the next step would be after contacting the service (local average 86%, national average 93%) and 95% knew what the next step would be within two days of contacting the service (local average 93%, national average 93%). In addition, 87% stated to some extent their needs were met during their last GP appointment (local average 91%, national average 90%).

The service cared about and promoted the wellbeing of their staff and supported and enabled staff to always deliver person-centred care.

Staff told us they were valued by leaders. Leaders had taken steps to recognise and meet the wellbeing needs of staff, which included the necessary resources and facilities for safe working, such as regular breaks and rest areas. Staff reported being supported if they were struggling at work. We saw team building days were established within the practice.

Staff fed back they worked well as a team and all partners were approachable. They mentioned the practice had been supportive when they were going through difficult issues giving time off to deal with things or providing flexible working.

We saw a staff feedback box where staff could submit feedback anonymously.

The practice adopted a no blame culture, if mistakes happened, they looked at reviewing processes, so staff felt comfortable to speak. The practice manager conducted weekly meetings with non-clinical staff, as well as one to one meeting where staff were able to raise concerns if they had any.

Work desk assessments were completed for all staff, as part of health and safety to make sure work desks were adequate.

The practice had been participating in a national GP Improvement Programme, allowing them to review practice level processes, identify areas of development for staff members as well as processes to monitor. This resulted in improvement in internal processes, allowing the practice to provide targeted staff training based on needs.