Wolstanton Medical Centre

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 outstanding. At this assessment, the rating has remained the same.

This service scored 93 (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 very clear shared vision, strategy and culture. This was based on transparency, equity, equality and human rights, diversity and inclusion, engagement, and an exceptional understanding of the challenges and the needs of people and their communities. They had contributed to a number of projects to reduce health inequalities across the local primary care network.

Leaders invested in learning and development for staff to assist them in best practice and demonstrated the importance of staff wellbeing to support them in maintaining positive outcomes for people using the service.

Staff were aware of the practice vision and strategy, which was displayed in the practice and on the practice website and kept under review. Staff told us they had contributed to the most recent version of the mission statement demonstrating the service valued and actively engaged staff in the direction and plans for the practice.

Feedback from staff and the Patient Participation Group representative was overwhelmingly positive about the culture within the practice. They told us there was an open and transparent culture and they were always encouraged and supported to raise any issues and suggestions for improvement. They told us the service had responded positively to any suggestions made. For example, the development of an information leaflet on wait times for referrals and blood test results and increased presence of social media.

The service had exceptionally 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 always did so with integrity, openness and honesty.

Values were actively integrated into daily practice, establishing an open and respectful culture. Staff told us leaders in the practice were always approachable and responded to any concerns raised. They spoke very positively about the leadership team and reported the practice was a great place to work where leaders and staff were both friendly and supportive. Staff told us they were proud to work at the service, and to be part of a team always striving to go above and beyond for both patients and staff.

Staff 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.

The practice had established Freedom to Speak up arrangements. Staff were aware of how to raise concerns and were encouraged to approach line managers, practice management or any of the GP partners with any concerns. They also had access to an external Freedom to Speak Up Guardian. Staff felt that they could speak up and were confident their voice would be heard and acted upon.

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

Policies and procedures to promote diversity and equality were in place. Staff had completed training in equality and diversity and were aware of supporting people with protected characteristics. No concerns were raised with regards to workforce equality. Adjustments had been made to ensure all staff were valued, for example adjustments to accommodate flexible working arrangements where appropriate.

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

The service had a clear line management structure in place, which provided clarity for staff regarding day-to-day management, as well as a reporting structure back to the practice management team. Staff we spoke with were clear on their individual roles and responsibilities.Line managers met with staff regularly to complete appraisals and performance reviews. Staff working in enhanced roles had regular clinical supervision meetings, in addition to regular debrief sessions at the end of clinics. Staff told us they valued the debrief sessions as they provided feedback on consultations which had taken place that day, and they could incorporate any suggestions immediately into their practice going forward. Leaders also worked with staff working in enhanced roles through joint clinics, and there were regular skills reviews with the health care assistant. These processes provided the opportunity for constructive and supportive dialogue between leaders and staff, and the opportunity for leaders to assure themselves staff were competent in their roles. This demonstrated the practice’s commitment to patient safety, personalised care, and continuous quality improvement.

The provider had established governance processes that were appropriate for their service. Staff could access all required policies and procedures, which had been reviewed and updated. Managers shared information with staff through a range of meetings, during which they discussed clinical concerns and emerging risks. Individual teams had their own meetings but also came together for whole practice meetings. Managers clearly recorded any actions arising from these meetings and ensured they shared these with staff. Staff took patient confidentiality and information security seriously.

The service carried out a range of audits, either in relation to an identified need within the service or as requested locally or nationally. These audits were used to drive improvements. The service routinely audited capacity and demand and used this information on an ongoing basis to ensure sufficient appointments and staffing levels to fill the following month’s rotas.

The service routinely reviewed complaints, suggestions and Friends and Family Tests comments for any trends or themes and took action accordingly. Significant events and learning events were reviewed and uploaded to the national Learn from Patient Safety Events (LFPSE) portal for wider dissemination.

The service routinely reviewed all deaths, and new cancer diagnoses to identify good practice as well as any learning or gaps in care. These reviews had resulted in the introduction of annual reviews for people with chronic degenerative neurological conditions, flank pain as a red flag for an urgent appointment and consider cancer if persistent musculoskeletal pain or a dropping blood iron levels.

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

The service recognised the during the pandemic, the ‘lockdowns’ had a profound impact on people’s mental health and increased social isolation. As a consequence, they wanted to give back to the community and to support people experiencing poor mental health and social isolation, by creating an environment where for people to sit and meet with others, Since 2021, the service has developed a community garden at the front of the building as a way of integrating with the local community and providing a pleasant open space for people. The garden has developed over time, and a local charity for people with acquired brain injuries works in collaboration with the practice to maintain the garden area and provide valuable rehabilitation activities for their members. Members of the community have contributed painted stones with positive messages on and a handmade bird house. The service was invited to apply for Newcastle in Bloom and were awarded best in category in the 2025 completion in recognition of the work done for the local community.

The service also worked in collaboration with Staffordshire Wildlife Trust and had funded 5 walks a year since 2022. The service told us this helped to support isolated people in the community to engage with and develop social relationships.

Representatives from the care homes were extremely complimentary about the care services provided to people living in their care. They told us the service worked in partnership with staff to ensure the best care and treatment was provided to the people in their care.

The service was supported by an active Patient Participation Group (PPG), who worked with the service to bring about improvements and share relevant and useful information with people who used the service. The chairperson, who was relatively new in post, had established an annual meeting schedule, and was reviewing the PPG mission statement with the members. The PPG had encouraged the service to increase their presence on social media through daily posts. The service used this platform to promote national campaigns such as breast cancer awareness and updates on the measles, mumps and rubella (MMR) vaccines, as well as general information, for example healthy eating. The service had also developed an information leaflet on wait times for referrals and blood test results, following a suggestion from the PPG. The PPG planned to engage more with community groups to identify any areas for improvement for specific groups of people and had established links with the PPG for the wider Newcastle area.

The service had been instrumental in the development of The FACT service, a primary care network (PCN) level enhanced frailty service with one of the GP Partners as the clinical lead. The FACT team supported the enhanced care needs of people referred to them from across the PCN.

Staff were also involved in charitable donations with money raised through wellbeing activity weeks and contributions to local foodbanks.

The service had a strong focus on continuous learning, innovation and improvement across the organisation and local system. They always 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 GP Partners had an established history of academic and research activity, having previously worked at the local university lecturing on primary care focused research and GP partnership roles in practice. They continued to use those skills and expertise to drive improvements within the practice and the wider primary care network. This included the development and implementation of The FACT service, a primary care network (PCN) level enhanced frailty service; a PCN Health Inequalities initiative, which ran from 2022-24 with the aim of reducing cardiovascular risk factors among people with learning disabilities. The development of a new initiative, The Deck, which started in December 2025, with West Midlands Health Innovation funding and Dr Cottrell as clinical lead. The service will offer an enhanced level of care in order to mitigate the impact of trauma/adverse childhood experiences on future health and wellbeing.

The GP Partners regularly presented work undertaken at the practice at national and international conferences. They had presented improvement work at national RCGP Annual Conference for the last 3 years. This included ‘Using case studies and a toolkit approach for improving care for high volume users in primary care’, and ‘Understanding and improving continuity of care in general practice’. Both GP partners had authored a number of publications over recent years and acted as topic advisor for the latest osteoarthritis guideline produced by NICE in 2022 (Overview | Osteoarthritis in over 16s: diagnosis and management | Guidance | NICE).

The service invested in the Oliver McGowan trainers training for one of the GP partners to become an accredited trainer. The accredited trainer, with the involvement of the experts with lived experience delivered the training to staff during March and April 2025.

Several members of staff told us they had been supported by the service to gain additional qualifications. This included General Practice Nursing, supplementary prescribing and advanced clinical practitioner.

The practice was a training practice for GP registrars, medical students, nursing students, physician associate student, pharmacy students and paramedic students to gain experience and/or higher qualifications in general practice and family medicine.

One of the practice nurses had received the GPN Fellow of the Year 2025 award from the GPN Foundation School. This was in recognition of their resilience, peer support, practice improvement, positive impact, and dedication to exceptional patient care as a General Practice Nurse.

The practice used learning from significant events and complaints to continually improve the service they provided. An annual analysis of complaints and significant events was undertaken to reflect and drive improvements.

A range of clinical audits had also been undertaken as part of their quality assurance to improve patient care. The practice performance was shared and discussed with staff at meetings held.