The Poplars Medical Centre

On this page

• Overview
• Assessing needs
• Delivering evidence-based care and treatment
• How staff, teams and services work together
• Supporting people to live healthier lives
• Monitoring and improving outcomes
• Consent to care and treatment

We looked for evidence that staff monitored people’s care and treatment and supported them to live healthier lives. At our last assessment, we rated this key question as good. At this assessment, the rating remains the same.

This service scored 79 (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 Assessing needs during this assessment. The score for this quality statement is based on the previous rating for Effective.

We did not look at Delivering evidence-based care and treatment during this assessment. The score for this quality statement is based on the previous rating for Effective.

We did not look at How staff, teams and services work together during this assessment. The score for this quality statement is based on the previous rating for Effective.

The service always supported people to manage their health and wellbeing to fully maximise their independence, choice and control. The service supported people to live healthier lives and where possible, reduce their future needs for care and support.

Staff focussed on identifying risks to people’s health, including those in the last 12 months of their lives and those with caring responsibilities. Staff supported national priorities and initiatives to improve population health, including stopping smoking and tackling obesity. The practice worked collaboratively with the Primary Care Network (PCN) and GP+ services (A PCN service of which the practice were a key partner) to provide NHS health checks and support preventative healthcare programmes, including a campaign offering Prostate-Specific Antigen (PSA) blood test.

A dedicated Care Coordinator worked with patients to encourage patients to attend annual health checks, cancer care reviews and long-term condition monitoring.

Autistic people and people with a learning disability as well as those with poor mental health received personalised support from dedicated GPs, supported by dedicated care coordinators. The practice understood the barriers these groups of patients can face accessing health care and told us how they built services around patients' needs and prioritising continuity of care. Data showed they exceeded both local Salford standard targets and national targets for patients eligible for annual learning disability reviews and severe mental health illness reviews. They achieved this working holistically combining named clinical leads for continuity, flexible ways to book appointments, proactive personal follow-up using several contact methods, home visits for housebound patients, and reasonable adjustments were put in place to improve attendance and engagement.

The service recognised that social and emotional factors affected people’s ability to live healthier lives and implemented a range of initiatives to support vulnerable patients. Staff distributed food bank vouchers and referred families to the Salford Baby Bank, which provided essential baby clothing and equipment. Staff also referred socially vulnerable patients to Elemental, a support service that helped people on long-term sickness absence access advice and assistance to return to work.

The service routinely monitored people’s care and treatment to continuously improve it. They ensured outcomes were positive, consistent and met the expectations of people themselves.

The service did not meet all the national targets for the uptake of childhood immunisations, and although they were only slightly below target in some areas, they took a coordinated approach through a dedicated recall system and multidisciplinary meetings involving GPs, nurses, pharmacists and the Care Coordinator to monitor and improve uptake. In addition, GPs would provide the first immunisation as part of the first baby checks, preventing parents having to return for a second appointment. Follow up appointments were booked at the same time.

The service implemented measures to improve uptake of the national cancer screening programme and worked towards achieving the national target of 80% for cervical cancer screening. Leaders carried out targeted initiatives to increase cervical screening uptake among ethnic minority groups through recall programmes and proactive outreach. The practice held monthly meetings, during which a GP and a dedicated care coordinator worked closely together to monitor progress, track uptake, and actively contact patients who had not attended screening appointments.

For patients with long-term conditions who required regular reviews, the practice operated a recall system and contacted patients' multiple times when necessary to encourage them to attend appointments and take appropriate clinical actions where patients repeatedly failed to attend.

Leaders monitored clinical performance and outcomes against a range of national and local standards.

We did not look at Consent to care and treatment during this assessment. The score for this quality statement is based on the previous rating for Effective.