Midlands Medical Partnership

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.

People were treated with kindness and compassion. Staff protected their privacy and dignity. They treated them as individuals and supported their preferences. People had choice in their care and treatment. The service supported staff wellbeing.

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 service always treated people with kindness, empathy and compassion and respected their privacy and dignity. Staff treated colleagues from other organisations with kindness and respect.

The service holds a GP Veteran Friendly Accreditation and maintained a patient register to support veterans. The service actively identified and supported carers.

Arrangements were in place to promote patients’ privacy. National GP Patient Survey data reflected people felt listened to and were treated with kindness. For example:
•79% of respondents said the healthcare professional they saw or spoke to was good at treating them with care and concern during their last general practice appointment. The local integrated care board (ICB) results were, 82% and national results, 86%.
•75% said the healthcare professional they saw or spoke to was good at listening to them during their last general practice appointment. The local integrated care board (ICB) results were, 83% and national results, 87%.
•91% felt their needs were met during their last general practice appointment. The local integrated care board (ICB) results were, 88% and national results, 90%.

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 parentalinvolvement in managing their care and support.

Staff that chaperoned were aware of their responsibilities in maintaining a person’s dignity and safety during an intimate examination.

The service was a recognised Safe Surgery. Safe Surgeries is an initiative by Doctors of the World to help GP practices become more inclusive, ensuring migrants and other vulnerable people can register and access healthcare without facing barriers like lack of ID, address, or immigration status.

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.
People were asked at registration about their first language and a person’s preferred method of communication was recorded on their electronic record. There were also systems at local site level to support staff awareness on people’s literacy and any digital support needs as well as their preferences regarding communication.

The service 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.
Patients we spoke with during our site visits reported positively on the care and treatment they received by staff.
National GP Patient Survey data found:

• 90% of respondents were involved as much as they wanted to be in decisions about their care and treatment during their last general practice appointment. The local integrated care board (ICB) results were, 90% and national results, 91%.

•90% of the respondents felt the healthcare professional they saw had all the information they needed about them during their last general practice appointment. The local integrated care board (ICB) results were, 91% and national results, 92%.

• 87% had confidence and trust in the healthcare professional they saw or spoke to during their last general practice appointment. The local integrated care board (ICB) results were, 91% and national results, 93%.

The service 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. Staff we spoke with knew the process for referral to emergency support, including mental health crisis teams.

The process followed for the triaging of patients was prioritised using a red, amber green, traffic light risk rating system, based on patients presenting symptoms. The duty doctor supported nonclinical staff. Patients coded as ‘platinum’ that is aged over 75 and children under 5 years old for example were also prioritised. Patients’ symptoms listed as red were seen on the same day, amber, within 3 days, and green within 7 days. However, during our visits on site the service reported they were seeing most patients either the same day or within 3 days.

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

The service had set up an ‘Above and Beyond Award,’ for staff. This was a nomination process whereby any member of the team could nominate a colleague they believed deserved this recognition. All appropriate entries received acknowledgement certificates and each quarter, three of the entries were highlighted by random lottery for the service to celebrate their success.

They had developed learning and support for staff wellbeing and resilience, including supportive information on local and national resources. The service had considered the recognition of stress and potential risk of burnout in their GP staff group.

The service had received staff feedback, prior to the CQC assessment which included discussions around ‘a birthday day’ within the month of their birth as an additional annual leave day. This was to be rolled out to staff in the near future.

Reception staff reported that staff with knowledge and expertise were willing to give their time and offered them support. That reception team staff were approachable always eager to help and support clinical teams. Both clinical and non-clinical staff members reported there were growth opportunities within the service including training, career progression and collaboration.
Staff had access to an employee assistance programme, with access to a helpline for support through any of life’s issues or problems. Staff informed managers or the GP partners if they had any problems or concerns regarding their work or workload. Some staff shared with us that they had been supported if they were struggling at work due to sudden changes in their or their families’ circumstances, or changes in their health.

Leaders had taken steps to recognise and meet the wellbeing needs of staff, which included the necessary resources and facilities for safe working, such as regular breaks and rest areas. Patients with the potential or known violent or abusive behaviours had electronic alerts to ensure staff security and safety considerations.

Staff feedback questionnaires received to the Care Quality Commission and most of the staff we spoke with, said they felt valued by the service. Staff comments included that they enjoyed working in their team, that everyone helps one another to ensure the practice flows without any issues, another stated they were a committed team, supporting patients. Clinical staff reported feeling well led and very well supported, they were involved with projects and pilots to improve patient health and wellbeing.