Salters Medical Practice

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 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.

The practice always treated people with kindness, empathy and compassion and respected their privacy and dignity. Staff treated colleagues from other organisations with kindness and respect. National GP Patient Survey data reflected that people felt listened to and were treated with kindness. 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 practice had systems in place to ensure that additional support to patients was considered and provided. For example, they offered patients with a learning disability to have their reviews on a Saturday when the clinic was quieter.

The practice treated people as individuals and made sure people’s care, support and treatment met people’s needs and preferences. They took account of people’s strengths, abilities, aspirations, culture and unique backgrounds and protected characteristics. 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. For example, the practice was designated as sensory friendly and had a quiet space with sensory items.

The practice promoted people’s independence, so people knew their rights and had choice and control over their own care, treatment and wellbeing. Staff helped patients and their carers to access advocacy and community-based services such as social prescribing.

The practice listened to and understood people’s needs, views and wishes. Staff responded to people’s needs in the moment and acted to minimise any discomfort, concern or distress. There was a system for appointment triage that ensured people with immediate needs had access to services. Leaders told us members of the GP team had spent time with the receptionists to support triaging calls. This helped to empower the team to confidently signpost patients. Staff we spoke with knew the process for referral to emergency support, including mental health crisis teams.

The practice cared about and promoted the wellbeing of their staff and supported and enabled staff to always deliver person-centred care. Staff told us they were valued by leaders and felt appreciated and invested in. Leaders had taken steps to recognise and meet the wellbeing needs of staff. For example, staff were able to provide examples of how supportive leaders were and actions they took when they raised concerns. This included having monthly meetings to check in with them. Leaders had conducted staff surveys to identify ways of improving staff wellbeing and action had been taken to address feedback.