Wallington Family Practice

On this page

• Overview
• Shared direction and culture
• Capable, compassionate and inclusive leaders
• Freedom to speak up
• Workforce equality, diversity and inclusion
• Governance, management and sustainability
• Partnerships and communities
• Learning, improvement and innovation

We looked for evidence that service leadership, management and governance assured high-quality, person-centred care; supported learning and innovation; and promoted an open, fair culture

At our last assessment, we rated this key question as Requires Improvement. At this assessment, the rating has changed to Good.

Leaders and staff had a shared vision and culture based on listening, learning and trust. Leaders were visible, knowledgeable and supportive, helping staff develop in their roles. Staff felt supported to give feedback and were treated equally, free from bullying or harassment. Staff understood their roles and responsibilities. Managers worked with the local community to deliver the best possible care and were receptive to new ideas. There was a culture of continuous improvement with staff given time and resources to try new ideas.

The service was in breach of legal regulation 17 (Good governance) and is no longer in breach.

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 had a shared vision, strategy and culture. This was based on transparency, equity, equality and human rights, diversity and inclusion, engagement, and understanding challenges and the needs of people and their communities.

All staff had contributed to the development of the practice vision and strategy, which was kept under review. The practice was aware of the projected increase in the local population and was working with partner agencies to address future challenges. Staff and leaders feedback due to the merger in 2024 the last 12 months had been a challenging time for all. Whilst it was a difficult period, most staff felt involved in the development of the practice.

The service had inclusive leaders at all levels who understood the context in which they delivered care, treatment and support and embodied the culture and values of their workforce and organisation. Leaders had the skills, knowledge, experience and credibility to lead effectively. They did so with integrity, openness and honesty.

Staff told us leaders in the practice were approachable and responded to any concerns raised.

The majority of staff described leaders as “open and honest, working in an inclusive culture, with good teamwork and leadership.

Staff also told us leaders modelled the values of the practice. We saw the leadership team worked with other practices in the primary care network and were engaged in the development of primary care services within the local area.

The service fostered a positive culture where people felt they could speak up and their voice would be heard. Staff said there were no barriers to speaking up and their views were listened to and acted upon. This aligned with the management approach of being actively engaged with staff to seek their views.

The practice had established Freedom to Speak up arrangements with other practices in the primary care network. Staff were aware of how to raise concerns. Information on how to access the freedom to speak up guardian was on the internal platform. In addition to this staff were shown the whistleblowing policy and information relating to freedom to speak up during their induction.

Staff confirmed they were aware of how to raise concerns and told us they felt confident to speak up internally and externally if the need arose.

The service valued diversity in their workforce. They work towards an inclusive and fair culture by improving equality and equity for people who work for them.

We saw all staff (clinical and non-clinical) had completed equality and diversity training.

Policies and procedures to promote diversity and equality were in place. We saw senior leaders had addressed concerns related to discrimination.

At the previous inspection there was evidence that some governance systems had not worked effectively, particularly those to manage risk and there was no effective overall oversight mechanism. At this inspection we found that the practice had robust governance processes in place. Due to the merger with another practice, the practice experienced a high staff turnover of staff. Leaders explained it was a difficult period, however they were starting to embed new systems and seeing improvements. They were continuing to work collaboratively to improve the overall running of the practice.

The service had clear responsibilities, roles, systems of accountability and good governance. They used these to manage and deliver good quality, sustainable care, treatment and support. They act on the best information about risk, performance and outcomes, and share this securely with others when appropriate.

Leaders and managers supported staff, and all staff we spoke with were clear on their individual roles and responsibilities. Managers met with staff regularly to complete appraisals and performance reviews. However, at the time of the inspection 2 of the 5 staff files we reviewed did not have an appraisal. When we raised this with the practice, they explained they had the 2 staff members scheduled to undertake appraisals in the next few weeks. The provider had established governance processes that were appropriate for their service. Staff could access all required policies and procedures from the new online platform they had started using. Managers held regular practice meetings with staff, during which they discussed clinical concerns and emerging risks. Managers clearly recorded any actions arising from these meetings and ensured they shared these with staff. Staff took patient confidentiality and information security seriously.

We saw all staff meeting minutes which had standard agenda items this included topics such as safeguarding, alerts, audits, complaints, significant events and telephone access for family and friends. We saw learning disabilities and autism training was discussed at a recent team meeting (July 2025) and saw actions at the end of meetings with who they were assigned to and due dates.

The service understood their duty to collaborate and work in partnership, so services work seamlessly for people. They share information and learning with partners and collaborate for improvement.

The provider worked with other practices within their primary care network to offer extended access.

Practice meetings for all staff were held monthly. Safeguarding meetings were held monthly where the health visitor would attend. The practice also had monthly multi-disciplinary team (MDT) meetings. These meetings were attended by representatives of the Palliative Care Hub, who assisted the practice in identifying patients approaching the end of their life and helped the practice plan for advanced care discussions with their patients.

The practice worked closely with the PPG; they met every three months. Feedback from group members was positive. They told us they discussed the patient survey; they felt the practice listen. For example, whilst the practice was still working on improving access since the merger the members had noticed an improvement with accessing appointments, also the updating of the phone system which now provided a call back service which they found helpful rather than having to wait in a queue.

The service focused on continuous learning, innovation and improvement across the organisation and local system. They encouraged creative ways of delivering equality of experience, outcome and quality of life for people. They actively contribute to safe, effective practice and research.

The practice had a quality improvement plan in place to help drive improvements in services. This focussed on the appointment system. All staff were encouraged to put forward and test out new ways of working, and we saw examples of nursing staff feedback stating they were encouraged to develop. For example, we saw evidence that nurses were attending various management and practical developmental courses

Other staff members informed us leaders encouraged them to progress in terms of career development and were given opportunities to develop within the practice. For example, one administration staff member had progressed to become a team leader.

The practice had recently started offering home visits to learning disability patients for their annual review.