West Rainton Surgery

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 has changed to Outstanding.

This service scored 95 (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. For example:

• Most patients who responded felt the healthcare professionals was good at treating them with care and concern, at 91%, compared to 88% across the local Integrated Care Board (ICB) area and 86% across England.
• Most patients who responded felt the healthcare professional was good at listening to them, at 91%, compared to an ICB average of 89% and an England average of 87%.
• Most patients who responded had confidence and trust in the healthcare professional they saw or spoke with, at 93%, which was the same as the ICB and England average.

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.

The in-reach work carried out with the Gypsy, Roma and Traveller community identified communication barriers. This enabled the practice to put in place plans and arrangements that supported this community to understand and engage more positively in decisions about their healthcare. We found this demonstrated exceptional help in supporting this often-marginalised community to express their needs and preferences and supported the practice to understand their preferences, wishes and choices. Although the practice was not able to access statistical data to evidence uptake of other health initiatives, such as immunisation and cancer screening, they were able to provide specific examples where the practice intervention had led to patients receiving these. The number of patients taking up health checks had increased from 25 in 2023/24, to 33 in 2024/25 and 38 in the current financial year.

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 service was exceptional at promoting people’s independence, so people knew their rights and had choice and control over their own care, treatment and wellbeing.

The national GP patient survey results for 2025 showed the practice was above the national averages on indicators relating to healthcare professionals listening to them (90.6% compared with England average of 89.6%); treating them with care and concern (90.6% compared with the England average of 85.6%); confidence and trust in the healthcare professional (93% compared with an England average of 92.5%) and, being involved as much as they wanted to be in decisions about their care and treatment (97.2% compared with an England average of 91.2%).

The practice had supported the local Gypsy, Roma and Traveller community to have a better understanding of their own health risks, by supporting them to undergo NHS health checks. This gave them more information about early signs of ill health and ways to prevent conditions from developing. They were signposted to services that could benefit them. Staff helped patients and their carers to access advocacy and community-based services. The practice had implemented personalised communication strategies to provide additional support to help this community understand and act upon information about their health. We found the service went above and beyond for this often-marginalised community to support them with their social needs and to manage any potential health risks. We saw specific examples where this support had led to patients to take up health initiatives that had previously been declined.

The service was exceptional in how they listened to and understood people’s needs, views and wishes. Feedback from members of the Patient Participation Group (PPG) was very positive about their experiences of the practice, particularly in responding to patient need. They told us the practice was tenacious in continuing to progress the issue of a better car parking experience outside the practice for the benefit of patients and residents, despite the barriers they still experienced in making this happen.

Staff responded to people’s needs in the moment and acted to minimise any discomfort, concern or distress. For example, the national GP patient survey for 2025 found patients were able to access the service promptly when they needed to. Of the patients who responded to the survey, 88.6% said they had a positive overall experience of contacting their GP (compared with a national average of 69.6%). Similarly, 86.6% of those who responded reported they found it easy to contact their GP practice on the phone (compared with an England average of 52.9%).

The practice told us they had considered a total triage approach to support access to the practice. However, they had decided not to pursue this given the sustained positive feedback they received from patients about access to the service and profile of patients on their list. There was a system to ensure 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.

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 found the culture within the practice prioritised good wellbeing through inclusivity, active listening, and open conversations. This empowered staff to do their job well and to be well.

Leaders told us they considered staff to be an extended family, and to do well, they needed to support staff to be well. They gave us examples of stepping up to manage situations that were causing concerns for staff wellbeing. Staff confirmed these examples with us. Staff told us how highly they valued the support they had received. They told us the support had enabled them to progress both within their own career and in the development and improvement of the service. We found this had fostered staff loyalty and a supportive team mentality. They also told us the support leaders gave them in relation to bereavement was highly valued and reflective of the approach taken in the practice more generally. This was to support staff with difficulties which impact on their ability to do their job, whether this was specific to their work or more generally related to their wellbeing. Staff reported high levels of satisfaction with their role and with working within the practice.

Staff told us they were highly 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 events were established within the practice.

We found there were established and proven support networks for staff to use if they were struggling, so they had support immediately and the impact on the care they deliver to people remained positive. Clinical staff spoke highly about the ability to receive quick support via regular supervision and the daily ‘huddles’. They told us this gave them regular access to advice and guidance with meeting the needs of patients but also personal support with the day-to-day stressors within their role.