Updated 28 February 2024
Fallowfield Medical Centre is a NHS GP practice which provides primary care services for patients living in Fallowfield, Manchester. We carried out an announced responsive assessment of one quality statement, equity in access, under the key question 'Responsive' at Fallowfield Medical Centre on 8th March 2024. We carried out the assessment as part of our work to understand how practices are working to try to meet people’s 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, in 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. At this assessment we found that overall people could access services when they need to, without physical or digital barriers, including out of normal hours and in an emergency. The practice understood the challenges to patient access and responded to patient needs including those who were most likely to have difficulty accessing care. The practice sought out and used feedback and other data/ information to continually monitor and improve access, understood the challenges to patient access and responded accordingly. Overall, the practice is rated as good and the key question responsive continues to be rated as providing a good service.