Forest Group Practice

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• Overview
• Assessing needs
• Delivering evidence-based care and treatment
• How staff, teams and services work together
• Supporting people to live healthier lives
• Monitoring and improving outcomes
• Consent to care and treatment

We looked for evidence that staff monitored people’s care and treatment and supported them to live healthier lives. At our last assessment, we rated this key question as good. At this assessment, the rating remains the same.

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.

We did not look at Assessing needs during this assessment. The score for this quality statement is based on the previous rating for Effective.

The service planned and delivered people’s care and treatment with them, including what was important to them. They did this in line with legislation and current evidence-based good practice and standards. Leaders had systems in place to ensure staff kept up to date with evidence-based guidance and legislation.

As part of our assessment, we conducted a detailed review of people’s care records. These demonstrated that care and treatment were delivered in line with current national guidance and best practice, helping to ensure people received safe and effective care. For example, people with a potential diagnosis of diabetes had received appropriate care and treatment. People with hypothyroidism and people with chronic kidney disease stage 4 and 5, had received appropriate monitoring. People with diabetes who had elevated blood glucose levels were being monitored appropriately and the provider further strengthened their process by sending written information to people about the risks. The provider had recently introduced a new oversight and recall process to review people experiencing an exacerbation of asthma.

The service proactively invited people to contact the care coordinator team so tests needed for people’s long term condition reviews were coordinated and completed before their review. This was also used as an opportunity to revisit and encourage attendance, for example for health checks. A range of clinical staff supported the review process to ensure the effective use of skills and expertise. People with multiple long-term conditions were reviewed during 1 longer appointment to reduce the need for multiple visits and full medication reviews were also undertaken where possible. People and a care home representative gave positive feedback in relation to the clinical care and treatment received.

We did not look at How staff, teams and services work together during this assessment. The score for this quality statement is based on the previous rating for Effective.

The service supported people to manage their health and wellbeing to maximise their independence, choice and control. The service supported people to live healthier lives and where possible, reduce their future needs for care and support.

Staff focussed on identifying risks to people’s health, including those in the last 12 months of their lives and those with caring responsibilities. Leaders and staff supported national priorities and initiatives which included for example, stopping smoking and weight management. The social prescriber also signposted people to weight loss programmes which included offering gym passes and weight loss class vouchers. A range of information was available in the waiting room area and on the service’s website which signposted people to self-referral information and local and national support groups to encourage healthier living. Staff we spoke with told us messaging about national health promotion campaigns were regularly shared on the service’s social media platforms. These included world heart day, healthy ageing month and support for people experiencing suicidal thoughts. People had been invited and had attended awareness raising events about pre-diabetes and menopause at the provider’s other service.

The service had effective arrangements in place to provide a range of health checks, including NHS Health Checks for eligible people, physical health checks for people with a severe mental illness, and annual health checks for people with a learning disability. From April 2025 to March 2026, all eligible people with a learning disability had been offered an annual health check. 71.4% of people had received an annual health check, 21.4% had declined and 7.1% had cancelled or not attended their appointment. Arrangements were in place to follow up with people who had not attended their appointment, people who had not responded to invitations and to recall people who had previously declined to attend, to support ongoing engagement.

The service routinely monitored people’s care and treatment to continuously improve it. They ensured outcomes were positive, consistent and met the expectations of people themselves. For example, the service had developed a primary care long-acting injectable lipid lowering treatment care pathway. The pathway had been commenced by 14 people with established cardiovascular disease whose low-density lipoprotein (LDL) cholesterol levels remained above recommended targets despite optimal therapy. LDL cholesterol carries fatty deposits into artery walls and can lead to blocked blood flow and heart problems. Results showed 9 people had a 50% or higher reduction in LDL cholesterol and 11 people achieved The National Institute of Health and Care Excellence recommended target level. A further 30 people had been identified to commence on this pathway in December 2026.

The service were supporting the top 1% of people with the highest intensity use of services. Multi-agency teams had been established and were actively working with identified individuals, providing coordinated support through an intensive multidisciplinary approach to help improve outcomes and reduce reliance on urgent and unplanned care services.

The service met the target for 4 childhood immunisations indicators and was slightly below the target for 1 indicator. The service performed in line with national targets for breast and bowel cancer screening. Cervical screening uptake was below the national target for women aged 25 to 49 years and for women aged 50 to 64 years. Leaders were aware and had acted to increase nurse capacity. Staff told us the uptake of cervical screening had increased, and the practice provided unverified data which supported this view. Effective recall systems were in place and flexible appointment times, evening appointments at a nearby service and on some Saturdays for prearranged appointments.

We did not look at Consent to care and treatment during this assessment. The score for this quality statement is based on the previous rating for Effective.