Wordsworth Health Centre

On this page

• 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 had made improvements in the responsive key question since our last inspection in December 2022 to January 2023. The practice demonstrated an effective system was in place to manage complaints. The practice had systems in place to help patients who required assistance in using the service. However, results from the 2024 National GP Patient Survey showed low scores in patient satisfaction in their access to the practice.

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.

Feedback from the Friends and Family test as well as patients we spoke to on the phone were mostly positive. This included comments about the care and treatment provided by staff and the helpfulness of reception and administrative staff. The 2024 national GP patient survey results showed 83% of respondents were involved as much as they wanted to be in decisions about their care and treatment. However, 43% of respondents described their last experience of contacting the GP practice as good. The practice carried out an in-house survey and found, out of 490 respondents, 63% of respondents stated their experience of making an appointment was either very good or fairly good, with 13% stating it was neither good nor neither poor.

Staff told us interpretation services were offered for those whose first language was not English, hearing loops were available and the practice had visual aids for those who were visually impaired. Staff told us they understood they had an elderly population who found it difficult to access online appointments and therefore reserved specific slots for these patients. Staff explained the process of registering people with no fixed abode.

Leaders demonstrated a good understanding of the diverse health and social care needs of the practice population and provided a range of services. For example, home visits carried out by paramedics, physiotherapist appointments and in-house workshops. Staff were able to offer appointments outside of working hours in extended access clinic during weekday evenings and weekends.

The practice shared examples in relation to how practice staff worked with external organisations for the continuity of care of patients. An example includes the practices’ work with secondary care colleagues to create identification search tools to develop advanced care plans for patients at the later stages of their lives.

The practice offered a variety of clinics, services and organisations to which they could refer and guide patients. Staff explained that they could refer patients for support with wellbeing and social concerns to an in-house social prescriber. The practice had a phlebotomist who offered blood tests between Monday to Friday.

The 2024 national GP patient survey found 88% of patients felt the healthcare professional they saw during their last appointment had all the information they needed about them during their last appointment. We spoke to two patients on the phone who had no concerns about on receiving information from the practice.

Leaders explained they ensured information was available and accessible to all patients. This practice recruited multilingual staff to be able to communicate with their diverse practice population.

The practice was equipped with hearing loops and interpreter services were available for those people whose first language was not English. Information on clinics and services offered were available on posters at the reception area.

The national GP patient survey found 69% of patients stated the healthcare professional was good or very good at listening to them. An in-house patient survey found 80.5% of patients stated the healthcare professional they last saw was good or very good at listening to them. We spoke to two patients from the Patient Participation Group (PPG) who said they feel listened to and involved when speaking to clinical staff and that quarterly meetings with the PPG took place.

Staff were aware of the practice’s complaints procedure and leaders told us complaints were used to drive continuous improvement. Indicators from the national GP survey showed lower performance data under the areas of access and patient experience. The practice were aware of the results and worked on an action plan to increase patient satisfaction. Actions included further in-house training and increased appointment times from 10 to 12 minutes. The practice carried out a staff survey in June 2023 to identify and improve staff satisfaction and wellbeing levels. It found that 95% of staff felt supported by their line manager. We spoke to a range of staff who stated they were encouraged to raise issues and were able to explain how complaints and significant events were reviewed, responded to and shared with colleagues.

In our last inspection, we were unable to assess if the practice had an effective system in place to manage complaints. In this assessment, we reviewed a sample of complaints in detail and found they were managed satisfactorily and in a timely manner. Staff knew how to direct patients to complaints and information on how to make a complaint was available at the reception area and on the practice website. We saw evidence in the practices’ complaints log and minutes from team meetings that complaints were shared with colleagues and used to drive continuous improvement.

The 2024 national GP patient survey found 33% of patients found it easy to get through to the practice on the phone with 59% of patients finding receptionists at the practice helpful. The practice carried out an in-house survey on July 2024 and found 51% of patients found it easy to get through to the GP by phone and 81% found receptionists at the practice helpful. We spoke to two patients from the practices’ Patient Participation Group and both patients told us they had no concerns on getting through to patients on the phone.

Leaders at the practice reviewed their demand and capacity on a monthly basis. The practice created an action plan in response to their scores from the national GP patient survey. For example, to increase patient satisfaction on getting through to the GP practice by phone, the practice switched to a cloud telephony system, provided support and training to reception staff, ensured there are at least 3 call handlers during peak hours and used a paramedic for morning triage calls and requests for urgent appointments.

The practice was open from 8am to 6:30pm Monday to Friday and extended hours appointments were available on weekday evenings and weekends. The practice, having examined appointment data, significantly increased the total number of appointments from 2,919 in April 2023 to 4,256 in January 2024 to increase their appointment capacity. The practice also told us they increased the number of appointments booked between April 2023 to January 2024 (reaching 3,540 appointments) because of their enhanced booking system which made it easier for patients to secure appointments through the phone and through e-consultations. During the same time period, the practice increased same-day GP appointments by 63% and increased home visits from 53 in April 2023 to 137 in January 2024. The practice made several improvements to their systems and processes to improve patient access. This included introducing a new telephony system, increased clinical staff for appointments and dedicated staff members assigned to handle phone calls during peak hours.

Patients we spoke to on the phone had no concerns in relation to inequalities and experiences in their outcomes.

Leaders spoke about how they were proactively found ways to address barriers to improve people’s experiences and outcomes. For example, collaborating in the Safe Surgeries project which aimed to improve access to healthcare for migrants in vulnerable circumstances, particularly around registration. We were informed by the practice they had registered 13 patients through this project since January 2023.

The practice recruited a diverse set of staff which tailored to specific local communities. The practice increased the number of home visits to ensure housebound patients were able to access appointments. The practice reviewed patients with learning difficulties annually and, at the time of our assessment, had reviewed 44 out of 50 patients on the learning disability register in the last 12 months.

Whilst we spoke to patients on the phone, we did not ask patients questions relating to end of life care.

Leaders told us they attended regular palliative care meetings where people who were receiving end of life care were discussed and reviewed. Leaders carried out a quality improvement project by working collaboratively with palliative care consultants to develop early identification search tools to create advanced care plans for palliative care patients. After a 12-month period, 20 identified patients had an up-to-date advanced care plan which resulted in 100% compliance in a patient’s preferred place of care, preferred place of death, main diagnosis and resuscitation status. An audit of the deaths showed 13 out of 15 patients with an advanced care plan died in their preferred place of death whilst 2 patients had unavoidable deaths in hospital due to acute deterioration.

We reviewed three patients Do Not Attempt Cardiopulmonary Resuscitation (DNACPR) decisions and found they were all made in line with relevant legislation and appropriate conducted. The practice held quarterly palliative care meeting to review patients’ needs.