Beech House Surgery

On this page

• Overview
• Person-centred Care
• Care provision, Integration and continuity
• Providing Information
• Listening to and involving people
• Equity in access
• Equity in experiences and outcomes
• Planning for the future

We looked for evidence the service met people’s needs, and staff treated people equally and without discrimination. 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.

We did not look at Person-centred Care during this assessment. The score for this quality statement is based on the previous rating for Responsive.

We did not look at Care provision, Integration and continuity during this assessment. The score for this quality statement is based on the previous rating for Responsive.

We did not look at Providing Information during this assessment. The score for this quality statement is based on the previous rating for Responsive.

We did not look at Listening to and involving people during this assessment. The score for this quality statement is based on the previous rating for Responsive.

Beech House Surgery made sure people could access the care, support and treatment they needed when they needed it.

The surgery was open from 8.00am to 6.30pm Monday to Friday and, on Mondays and Wednesdays, it offered evening appointments for those patients who could not easily attend during regular hours.

The provider operated a mixture of urgent and pre-bookable appointments and home visits were available at the discretion of a GP for those patients who could not attend the surgery, thereby ensuring their continuity of care.

In feedback to the CQC, patients were positive about access to services and reported being able to get appointments quickly, being seen or spoken to on the same day, having no difficulty getting appointments for themselves or their children and having prompt access even at short notice or in urgent situations. Several patients explicitly stated that they had “never had an issue getting an appointment” or that appointments were “quickly arranged.”

This positive feedback was consistent with the results of the 2025 National GP Patient Survey which showed that the surgery performed significantly better than the national average in a number of areas and that people could access medical care when they needed it and in a way that suited their needs, be that by telephone, in person or through the surgery website.

For example, 89.5% of respondents to the survey described their overall experience of the surgery as being good, (as compared to a national average of 75.4%) and 88% of respondents described their overall experience of contacting the surgery as good, (as compared to a national average of 69.6%).

We saw that 88.9% of respondents also stated that they found it easy to get through to the surgery by phone (as compared to a national average of 52.9%) and 63% of respondents stated that they found it easy to contact the surgery using their website (as compared to a national average of 51%).

The same survey reported that 70% of respondents stated that they were offered a choice of time or day when they last tried to make an appointment, (compared to a national average of 54%) , while 81% of respondents stated that they waited about the right amount of time for their last GP appointment, (compared to a national average of 67%).

Accessibility within the surgery was also noted to be good during our visit. Treatment rooms and consultation rooms were located at ground floor level and an automatic door was in place at the entrance. Accessible parking was also available on site and a hearing loop was available at reception.

The provider had recently strengthened equitable access by hosting a support worker from North Yorkshire Horizons, an adult drug and alcohol service operating across the county. Previously, local provision was based in Harrogate, with no local offer in the Knaresborough area. This presented a barrier for some patients, who were unable to travel to Harrogate due to financial constraints, mobility issues, or other practical limitations.

In addition, the provider had a Memory Support Advisor through Dementia Forward who worked in the practice once a week. The Memory Support Advisor supported patients and their carers who had concerns about memory, or who had been referred to the memory clinic but did not yet have a formal diagnosis of dementia.

Staff and leaders at Beech House Surgery actively listened to information about people who were most likely to experience inequality in experience or outcomes. They tailored their care, support, and treatment in response to this.

Staff treated people equally and without discrimination. Leaders proactively sought ways to address any barriers to improving people’s experience and worked with local services to address any local health inequalities.

Staff understood the importance of providing an inclusive approach to care and made adjustments to support equity in people’s experience and outcomes.

Staff followed processes to ensure people could register at the surgery, including those in vulnerable circumstances (such as homeless people and Travellers) and in the 3 months prior to our visit, no one had been refused registration at the surgery.

Staff used systems to capture and review feedback from people who used the practice and during our visit we saw that there were feedback forms in reception for the NHS Friends and Family test and that complaints and compliments were being monitored and shared with staff members.

The practice was an Armed Forces Veteran Friendly Accredited GP practice and during our visit we saw posters in the waiting room about being veteran friendly and about Op Courage, a free NHS mental health and wellbeing service in England designed specifically for serving personal due to leave the military, reservists, veterans and their families.

There was a clinical lead for veteran health at the surgery who undertook regular training to better understand the needs of veterans and supported veterans to access dedicated health services and in the last year the surgery had undertaken work to identify veterans within their patient population so that their patient records could be updated accordingly and appropriate services offered.

We did not look at Planning for the future during this assessment. The score for this quality statement is based on the previous rating for Responsive.