Hednesford Medical Practice

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

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 practice displayed a poster, asking carers to let the practice know about their caring responsibilities. A notice board was dedicated to carer information. Carer status was electronically coded with alerts within the patient record. The practice had developed a bespoke leaflet for carers support including young carers.

The practice registration or initial consultations supported the identification of veterans, and direct relations of the veteran to support those who may have additional needs.

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 had developed a bespoke bereavement support pack which included signposting information and support links for patients.

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 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. The provider maintained an advocacy and a consent policy.

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 practice completed a quarterly audit search for patients who needed reasonable adjustments to help identify any newly registered patients who may have been missed or incorrectly coded.

Reasonable adjustment details were recorded and detailed with the patients record, to ensure these were clearly visible to all staff on patient contact with the practice.

The practice ensured staff had completed care navigation training and had access to guidance and prompts to support staff in assigning patients to the right clinical staff member or service. These staff members were supported by a duty GP or clinician who completed clinical triage. The guidance in place for staff also included an appointment time frame to ensure clinical staff had sufficient time allocated to meet the patient’s needs.

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

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. Staff reported being supported if they were struggling at work.

The practice had developed a ‘Safe Limits Policy.’ This included for example, the number of GP appointments for the morning and afternoon sessions. To suit patient’s needs there was a mixture of face to face and telephone calls. Protocols for whensafe capacity is reached was in place. As well as ensuring staff had protected breaks, realistic session plans, clinical catch up and debriefing sessions.

Staff had completed a wellbeing and staff satisfaction survey. They had access to a monthly staff newsletter.

The practice monitored and maintained their lone working policy.