Monkwearmouth 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 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 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.

Arrangements were in place to promote patients’ privacy. National GP Patient Survey data reflected 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 provided some patient feedback they had received, and we looked at numerous thank you cards displayed in the practice office. The feedback was overwhelmingly positive and spoke of the kind and caring staff and the difference this had made for patients and their families.

The National GP Patient Survey results in the caring category were consistently above the national average for example:

Patients who stated that the last time they had a general practice appointment, the healthcare professional was good or very good at listening to them (01/12/2024 to 31/03/2025), was 93.1% (national average, 86.9%).

Patients who stated that the last time they had a general practice appointment, the healthcare professional was good or very good at treating them with care and concern, was 90.1% (national average, 85.6%).

Patients who stated that during their last GP appointment they had confidence and trust in the healthcare professional they saw or spoke to, was 94.6% (national average, 92.5%).

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.

The practice held a register of patients living in vulnerable circumstances including patients with a learning disability, offering longer appointments when needed. The practice had good access for disabled patients including disabled car spaces and a hearing loop. The practice had carers identified via their register.

The service was an Armed Forces accredited practice, to support serving and veteran patients. We saw they also worked with a local veteran in crisis charity, with an ongoing raffle to raise money for the charity at the time of our visit.

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

The practice identified and met people’s communication needs to ensure they were fully involved in their care, with translation services and accessible information available when required.

Staff helped patients and their carers to access advocacy and community-based services. They made full use of their social prescriber to ensure patients social care needs were met as well as their clinical needs.

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.

We were provided with examples where reception staff had identified declining patients and alerted the doctor immediately.

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

There was an exceptionally strong organisational commitment and effective action to promote and achieve equality and inclusion across the workforce. There were high levels of satisfaction across all staff. Staff consistently told us they were valued by leaders, and some even described feeling like part of a family. They spoke about being part of a supportive team where everyone helped each other, often without needing to be asked. We observed leaders foster an environment where staff felt appreciated, relaxed, and included as members of a unified team. Together, they worked towards their shared goal of delivering a service that upholds the health, dignity, and wellbeing of their patients.

People’s experience of the service was driven by a culture that prioritised good wellbeing through inclusivity, active listening, and open conversations. This empowered staff to do their job well and to be well. Leaders were highly visible and approachable for all staff. Office staff had a daily meeting to check in with each other and their workloads and then plan tasks for the day. Staff had protected time to complete training and when necessary specific work tasks.

There were established and proven support networks for staff to use if they were struggling, so they had support immediately and the impact on the care they delivered to people remained positive. Leaders actively took steps to support staff wellbeing by providing essential resources and safe working facilities, including regular breaks and dedicated rest areas. We observed staff making good use of the newly refurbished rest room, which had a positive impact. All staff spoke positively about the support they received from management and partners, describing the workplace as friendly and rewarding. They also reported feeling supported whenever they faced challenges at work.