The Park Surgery

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 79 (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 made sure people were 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. They were also involved in decisions about their care.

The practice had established, through frequent attender projects and practice meetings, that they were seeing several patients with acute respiratory illness in the practice and there was lack of access to spirometry testing locally. The practice had worked with the Friends of the Alfred Bean local cottage hospital and local GP federation to develop an acute respiratory hub to help meet this patient need. The hub saw acute respiratory patients daily at the cottage hospital and provided spirometry testing for the patients. The provider told us this had been well received by patients and had improved available appointment capacity within the practice.

The practice had worked with a local care home and provided staff training to improve knowledge and understanding for staff on the information required by the practice when requesting appointments for patients.

The service had an exceptional understanding of the diverse health and care needs of people and their local communities, so care was joined-up, flexible and supported choice and continuity.

We saw the practice worked in partnership with other services to meet the needs of its patient population. The practice had tailored its services to meet the diverse needs of its community, for example, they had built relationships with community groups, such as the local food bank, to promote the take up of screening programmes and had provided training and guidance to food bank staff to assist in this area. There were established mechanisms for engaging with the community healthcare provider. The practice had worked with the local cottage hospital and local GP federation to develop an acute respiratory hub meet patient need. In May 2023 the practice became clinical lead for the local Integrated Neighbourhood Team (INT) and had worked closely with local community services to improve care. They had worked closely with a care home provider to ensure access to the service was improved and this had included provided training for care home staff.

The practice had recruited a new care coordinator to help, support and engage with frail and vulnerable patients.

The service supplied appropriate, accurate and up-to-date information in formats that were tailored to individual needs.

Information to promote the take up of screening and immunisation programmes was available in easy read formats. The practice had access to interpreter services. Information provided by the service met the Accessible Information Standard. Patients were informed as to how to access their care records.

Varied contact methods were provided which were accessible to patients. Methods included online, text message, telephone and in person. A tablet was also to be provided in reception to enable patients to access online services if they did not have their own internet access. Where information/communication needs were identified, information was provided in one or more accessible formats. Alternative formats could be provided such as letters in large font and using text messages instead of telephoning.

The practice used social media and screens in the waiting room to deliver patient communication, educate patients and to share local events and public health messages.

The service made it easy for people to share feedback and ideas, or raise complaints about their care, treatment and support. They involved people in decisions about their care and told them what had changed as a result.

We saw complaints were managed in line with the practice’s policy. Learning from complaints was evident and staff were able to identify changes made as a result of patient feedback, including complaints.

Complaints were managed in a timely manner and complaints records and responses to patients were detailed. Complaints were discussed in practice meetings, and an annual complaints audit was completed. Comments on social media were also regularly reviewed to identify any concerns. The practice made improvements in response to complaints and concerns raised. For example, they had identified a pattern in complaints received by the practice and concerns mentioned in social media, which had suggested that patients did not understand what to expect from the practice and what to expect from the secondary care providers in terms of medicine prescribing. In response to this they had shared information relating to prescribing for patients on their social media page.

The service made sure that people could access the care, support and treatment they needed when they needed it.

In response to the National GP Patient Survey data and from feedback from members of the community the provider had identified changes to improve access to the service. The surgery had operated a GP led Total Digital Triage system since 2022. The provider told us this system was adopted in response to lengthy phone waits, negative patient feedback, lack of capacity, and clinicians feeling that patients with the greatest need were not getting appointments. The practice informed patients across a wide network prior to the changes and implemented interactive social media posts where patients could discuss their concerns.

Staff told us this system had been well received by patients and staff felt the system had significantly improved access and improved their working conditions. Feedback from patients about access to appointments received by CQC was mixed but most felt the system was accessible and they could get appointments as required. Data from the 2025 National GP survey showed the percentage of respondents to the survey who responded positively to how easy it was to contact their GP practice on the phone was 25.3% a significant variation from the expected 52.9% but was a slight improvement from 2024 results of 20.6%. However, the percentage of respondents to the GP survey who responded positively to the overall experience of contacting their GP practice was above the expected 69.6% at 76.3%.

The practice regularly reviewed access and capacity and the audits showed improvement following the move to total triage. For example, audits showed that the number of patients being sent to the Urgent Treatment Centre due to being at capacity had fallen from 293 per week in February 2022 to 12 per week in February 2025. Regular audits of calls and waiting times to be answered showed call times had gone from up to a 2 hour wait to an average call wait of 8 minutes.

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 a lift was available to the first floor, an automatic door had been fitted to the entrance.

Staff and leaders actively listened to information about people who were most likely to experience inequality in experience or outcomes and tailored their care, support and treatment in response to this.

Feedback provided by people using the service, both to the provider as well as to CQC, was positive. Staff treated people equally and without discrimination. Leaders proactively sought ways to address any barriers to improving people’s experience and worked with local organisations, including within the voluntary sector, to address any local health inequalities. Staff understood the importance of providing an inclusive approach to care and made adjustments to support equity in people’s experience and outcomes. 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 had registered as a safe surgery, which is a surgery that is committed to removing barriers to registration such as lack of identification or proof of address, for their patient population.

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.

The surgery registered as a veteran friendly practice as they had a high veteran population due to proximity to army barracks and there was a veterans’ champion in the practice to offer support and information.

They maintained a housebound patient list to ensure this group of patients received their vaccinations and appropriate appointments.

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.