- GP practice
OHP-Leach Heath Medical Centre Also known as Leach Heath Medical Centre
Report from 29 February 2024 assessment
Contents
Ratings
Our view of the service
OHP-Leach Heath Medical Centre is a NHS GP practice which provides primary care services to patients in the Rubery area of Birmingham. The practice is rated as Good overall, with all key questions rated as good. We carried out an announced assessment of one quality statement, equity of access, under the key question Responsive at OHP-Leach Heath Medical Centre on the 6 March 2024. We carried out the assessment as part of our work to understand how practices are working to try to meet peoples demands for access and to better understand the experiences of people who use services and providers. We recognise the work that GP practices have been engaged in to continue to provide safe, quality care to the people they serve. We know staff are carrying this out whilst the demand for general practice remains exceptionally high, with more appointments being provided than ever. However, within this challenging context, access to general practice remains a concern for people. Our strategy makes a commitment to deliver regulation driven by people’s needs and experiences of care. The assessment of the quality statement equity of access includes looking at what practices are doing innovatively to improve patient access to primary care and sharing this information to drive improvement. We found that the practice had organised services to meet patients’ needs, particularly those who were most likely to have difficulty accessing care. However, the practice did not fully demonstrate that it was proactive in using patient feedback and other information to monitor and improve access. Patient feedback indicated that they found it difficult to access appointments. There were no formal action plans in place and any actions taken were not reflected in the GP patient survey data or in other sources of patient feedback.
People's experience of this service
In the 2023 National GP Patient Survey, the practice’s data for access was below national averages for all access questions reviewed. In particular, with how easy it was to get through to someone at their GP practice on the phone. Although patient feedback gathered by the practice’s in-house survey and the Friends and Family test were more positive about the service, any negative comments largely focussed on difficulties accessing appointments. We recognise the pressure that practices are currently working under, and the efforts staff are making to maintain levels of access for their patients. At the same time, our strategy makes a commitment to deliver regulation driven by people’s needs and experiences of care. Although we saw the practice had put in place some systems to improve access, this was not yet reflected in the GP patient survey data or other sources of patient feedback.