The Waterfield Practice

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• 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

The practice monitored data and feedback related to patient’s experiences when accessing care at the service. Where negative feedback was received or opportunities to improve were identified, the practice responded with changes designed to improve access and, patients’ experiences and satisfaction levels. Some of the new systems had been introduced quite recently and needed further time to embed themselves to operate consistently for all patients.

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.

We spoke with members of staff in leadership, management, and support roles. It was clear that improving access and patient experience was a priority for the practice and negative patient feedback about access had led the service to review performance and identify improvements. The leadership explained they had reviewed data and changes made by other practices to select the improvements they believed would have the biggest impact for their patients.

The results of the most recent GP Patient Survey showed the practice performance was below the national averages for all 4 of the indicators measured. The most significant outlier was the ease of getting through to the GP practice where practice performance was 25.3% compared to the national average of 49.6% We received 2 pieces of patient feedback through our Give Feedback on Care process during the assessment and we spoke with a member of the Patient Participation Group (PPG). We heard mixed feedback about the experiences of patients when accessing care at the service. Some patients told us that recent changes had improved their experience when accessing the practice whereas other feedback was less positive. For example, 2 patients reported they had not received callbacks or routine appointments in a timely manner. However, the other patient reported they had a positive experience when accessing the service for an urgent care need.

The practice had made 3 changes to processes. In November 2022 a new online triage and appointment request system had been introduced. In March 2023 the practice moved to a new telephony system with a function which allowed patients to have their place in the queue held and to be called back when it was their turn. In October 2023, all urgent calls were received by a telephony hub led by the GP Federation. When introducing the online triage system the practice had ensured that patients could still make requests by telephone or in person to prevent any patients being disadvantaged. All staff we spoke with confirmed this system was in operation. We were shown the 2023/24 Support Level Framework which had 4 priorities. All were focused on improving access. The leadership also explained that feedback from patients was continually monitored. We were shown evidence of the NHS Friends and Family Test between June and December 2023. There were clear periods where feedback improved, for example, after the introduction of the telephony hub in October 2023. However, the practice had not completed a patient survey to establish the impact the changes made had on patients. We were shown an example of a planned survey in response to the change in process for urgent calls. The practice agreed a patient survey would be a helpful process to understand if these new systems had been as successful as hoped. The introduction of the online triage system gave the practice data which could be used to plan future demand and capacity needs. For example, the practice was able to see the types of appointment being requested most frequently and could adjust the appointment system to meet that preference. Leadership explained they had noticed greater demand for face to face appointments and had adjusted the balance of appointments provided by Physicians Associates in response to meet the demand.

We did not look at Equity in experiences and outcomes during this assessment. The score for this quality statement is based on the previous rating for Responsive.

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.