- GP practice
Woodingdean Medical Centre
Report from 20 March 2024 assessment
Contents
Ratings
Our view of the service
Date of assessment: Wednesday 3 April 2024 to 23 April 2024. Woodingdean Medical Practice provides general medical services to approximately 8,900 patients from its surgery in Woodingdean, near Brighton, East Sussex. We undertook an announced targeted assessment of the responsive key question. This assessment focused on the Equity in Access quality statement. The assessment included a request for patient views via our Give Feedback on Care form on our website, a request for information from the practice, a staff questionnaire, and an interview with practice leaders. We did not undertake a site visit. During our assessment we found that people could not always access care, treatment, and support when they needed to and in a way that worked for them. We also found that the practice had not consistently sought or acted on feedback from people who used the service. Our concerns resulted in a breach of regulation 17 Good Governance. We have asked the provider for an action plan in response to the concerns found at this assessment. It was noted that during the assessment the practice implemented changes to the appointment system and commenced work with the local Healthwatch organisation on patient engagement. However, our assessments and scores depend on evidence of impact and must reflect the lived experience that people were reporting at the time of assessment.
People's experience of this service
We received 96 Give Feedback on Care (GFOC) forms. Sixty-nine of those were negative about their experience accessing the service. People commented that they found it difficult to get through on the phone and that when they did, there were no appointments left for that day. Twenty-five GFOC forms were positive about good treatment and care. Staff were praised for being friendly, helpful, caring, and professional. Two GFOC forms provided mixed feedback. People said it was difficult to get an appointment but when they did the service was good. The results of national GP patient survey (July 2023) placed the practice below the local and England average for all indicators related to access. Healthwatch Brighton told us that 7 patients had contacted them recently complaining about difficulties getting appointments. We spoke with two members of the Patient Participation Group who also told us people were finding it increasingly difficult to access the service.