Great Ayton Health Centre

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 85 (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 was exceptional at treating people with kindness, empathy and compassion and respected their privacy and dignity.

Staff treated colleagues from other organisations with kindness and respect.

The practice gathered Friends and Family scores, which reflected high levels of patient satisfaction. Feedback from patients was shared with staff to encourage and reinforce good practice. The practice worked on addressing the small number of complaints received and used these as an opportunity for learning and improvement.

The National GP Patient Survey results showed that the practice consistently scored significantly higher than local and national averages across several areas, most notably:

97% of patients felt that, during their last appointment, the healthcare professional was good at listening to them (local and national average 87%);

97% of patients felt that, during their last appointment, the healthcare professional was good at treating them with care and concern (local average 87% and national average 86%):

90% of patients stated that the healthcare professional they saw or spoke to was good at considering their mental wellbeing during their last appointment (local average 75% and national average 74%):

95% of patients felt their needs were met during their last general practice appointment (local and national average 90%): and

93% of patients found the reception and administrative team at the practice helpful, (local average 85% and national average 83%).

Through Give Feedback on Care submissions made to CQC, we received positive feedback from patients regarding how positive and supportive staff were.

The service 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.

Feedback we received from patients told us they were treated as individuals. This included positive comments about menopause care, care given to children with learning disabilities and autistic children, care provided to patients who required home visits and care given to military veterans.

We also found that staff had taken on specific lead roles to provide more specialist support for patients. This included roles relating to diabetes, asthma care and palliative care.

The was an Autism Action Plan in place which identified improvements the service planned to make to ensure people with autism were appropriately cared for and supported at the practice.

The service promoted people’s independence, so people knew their rights and had choice and control over their own care, treatment, and wellbeing.

Systems and processes were in place to support patients and their carers to access advocacy and community-based services. This included promoting local services for carers on noticeboards in the waiting room and working with outside agencies such as Dementia Forward to provide support to carers.

Results from the National GP Patient Survey showed that 93% of patients said that they were offered a choice of time or day when they last tried to make a general practice appointment. This was significantly above the local average of 55% and national average of 54%.

60% of patients said that they were normally able to see or speak to their preferred healthcare professional when they would like to. This was again significantly above the local average of 41% and national average of 40%.

The service was exceptional in how it 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 the most appropriate services.

Staff we spoke with knew the process for referral to emergency support, including mental health crisis teams, Pharmacy First and local urgent treatment centres.

The National GP Patient Survey showed that 96% of patients described their overall experience of contacting the practice as good. This was significantly higher than the local average of 77% and national average of 75%.

Results were also higher than local and national averages for patients knowing what the next step would be within two days of contacting their GP practice, with 99% of patients confirming that they were.

Feedback received by CQC highlighted several positive cases of patients being able to see or speak to a clinician quickly, often on the same day. There was also a lot of positive feedback about staff attitudes and how understanding, respectful and caring clinical and non-clinical staff were.

The service cared about and promoted the wellbeing of their staff and supported and enabled staff to always deliver person-centred care.

There was a lone worker policy in place for those staff working alone in practice or doing home visits. There was also a Dignity Policy which highlighted that the practice is committed to promoting a respectful and inclusive environment and to supporting staff to treat others with dignity and raise concerns when dignity is not respected.

In feedback, all staff were positive about the support they received from their line manager and about the culture that was instilled in the practice. They also stated that there was enough staff and that there was adequate cover for periods of absence.

Most staff told us leaders were approachable, supportive, and friendly and that there was a good atmosphere in the practice, with visible management and enough guidance. Most staff also stated that they felt listened to and were able to speak up.

Leaders had taken steps to recognise and meet the wellbeing needs of staff, which included providing the necessary resources and facilities for safe working, such as regular breaks and rest areas.

We also saw team building events were well established within the practice and that a number of registrars had chosen to come back and work at the practice following completion of their final exams.