Newson Clinic

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 patients 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 80 (out of 100) for this area. Find out what we look at when we assess this area and How we calculate these scores.

The vast majority of patient feedback we received was positive about interactions with clinic staff and patients reported they had been treated with kindness, patience, and respect.

There were no patients in the clinics during our site visits to the service that were available to speak to us, however leaders delivered a presentation and provided evidence demonstrating the processes they use to support compassionate care and promote women’s health and wellbeing.

The service informed of us of over 12 charity and outreach activities they had been involved with as part of their commitment to improving care for vulnerable groups across society and not just their patients. The outreach work focussed on reaching marginalised women, providing them with free healthcare education and resources.

These including working with ‘Lancashire Women,’ which is a charity for deprived women; providing presentations and teaching sessions to women in 5 different prisons; worked with ‘Ovacome’ which is an ovarian cancer charity, produce an information booklet for women with ovarian cancer; providing a webinar on mental health and hormones for ‘Fibromyalgia Action UK’ charity; and working with ‘Dimensions’ which is a not-for profit support provider and housing association for people with learning disabilities, to develop an information booklet for women.

Within the clinic, staff treated patients holistically and recognised both the physical and mental impact of the menopause. They responded to patients in distress in a timely way and ensured they had the advice, guidance and treatment they needed.

The service had systems and processes in place to provide tailored care and support for patients. Treatment plans were individualised, and staff were passionate about empowering patients to make informed choices about the care they received.

Staff had completed equality and diversity training and recognised the importance of meeting patients cultural, social, and religious needs, and displayed a non-judgmental attitude towards all patients.

For patients with the most complex needs, their care was discussed during clinical multidisciplinary meetings to ensure that their individual needs and preferences were met.

Patients’ communication needs were identified as part of the registration process with the service and any communication needs such as translation and interpretation support, which included British Sign Language, could be organised.

The service promoted patients’ independence and supported them to make decisions about their care, treatment and wellbeing. They provided patients with information and guidance to enable them to make informed decisions about their care.After a consultation, patients were able to take time to consider all their options before they decided on any treatment. Clinicians explained to patients they had the option to change their minds.

The service website provided patients with access to information about the doctors working for the service and they could book a consultation with a doctor of their choice.

Patients were offered a choice of appointment types including both face to face and remote consultations.

As a private service, people accessing the service for treatment had chosen to do so. Doctors understood the potential barriers around cost of consultations and prescriptions and so if patients wanted to continue their treatment with their NHS GP, clinicians would write to their named GP for them with information about their care.

The service listened to and understood patients’ needs, views and wishes. Clinicians took a full history before treatment so they could understand patients’ immediate needs and their expectations of treatment outcomes.

Staff we spoke with knew how to respond when a patient needed urgent attention and knew the processes to follow to ensure emergency support was given. For example, staff had undertaken sepsis and basic life support training.

The service had arranged for a duty doctor to be available every day to take telephone calls, undertake on the day appointments for patients in need, and provide case discussion or on demand advice for clinicians. The pharmacy team were also available to provide assistance with any urgent telephone queries.

We discussed with staff about the processes in place for abnormal blood test results for patients. Staff explained abnormal blood test results were tasked to the patient’s doctor for prompt review and subsequent action, however, the duty doctor also had access to these test results as a back up to make sure they were actioned in a timely manner.

Leaders told us they cared about and promoted the wellbeing of their staff. Leaders told us they supported and valued their colleagues and there was a weekly staff recognition programme in place. All of the staff we spoke with during our site visit gave positive feedback about the service and leaders. For example, staff told us they felt they worked well as a team, and colleagues supported one another. We also collated emailed feedback from staff and found some staff felt relationships and communication between leaders and staff could be improved.

Leaders had taken steps to recognise and meet the wellbeing needs of staff. There was a staff wellbeing policy in place which encouraged a positive culture to support individuals to take positive steps to improve their health and wellbeing when at work.

We discussed with staff wellbeing initiatives that had been provided for them. These included access to confidential counselling; yoga sessions; and a £750 contribution per employee to utilise within an online platform which provides benefits, wellbeing resources, and rewards for employees.

Leaders told us they had also arranged for mental health first aider training which was due to start in October 2025, to ensure staff had access to support.

Prior to our assessment the service had conducted a staff survey in July 2025. We reviewed the responses received form 57 staff members and found staff were positive about their experience working in the service in the following areas:

92% of staff agreed or strongly agreed that their line manager communicated clearly and regularly with them; 94% agreed or strongly agreed that they had a clear understanding of what was expected of them in their role; 94% reported they understood how their role contributed to the overall success of the organisation; 93% stated they felt their skills and abilities were well-used in their job; and 93% reported that they were committed to the long-term success of the organisation.

The staff survey also identified opportunities for improvement within the service. For example, staff reported that more communication from senior leaders ahead of business changes would be valued; greater opportunities for career development were desired; more staff recognition would be appreciated; more forums to speak up and contribute to improve things was desired by staff and following recent organisational changes, employees would appreciate more reassurance about the security of their own roles.