Dr Geetha Ramachandran & Dr Prasanna Balakrishnan Also known as Hirsel Medical 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

We carried out an announced assessment of one quality statement, equity of access, under the key question Responsive and found: Leaders used people’s feedback and other evidence to actively seek to improve access for people. Services were designed to make them accessible and timely for people who were most likely to have difficulty accessing care. The provider prioritised, allocated resources and opportunities as needed to tackle inequalities and achieve equity of access.

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.

Patient appointments were available either online, face to face, telephone, or as a home visit. Patients could also have text messaging or video call contacts. Patients could book appointments by telephone, online, walking in and could also submit medical or admin requests online via the practice website. Patients were telephone triaged by a duty GP who could then allocate same or next day urgent appointments, based on clinical need. Patients could book routine appointments up to 7 days in advance. Patients under the age of 5 or over the age of 75, presenting unwell were offered a same day appointment where necessary. The core opening hours of the practice were between 8am and 6pm, with extended access in the local area available until 8om during the week, and 9am-5pm on Saturdays. The practice had arrangements in place for prioritising patients. Staff had completed care navigation training and all patients were telephone triaged by a duty clinician, who worked closely with the reception team.

We reviewed the practice's results in the 2023 national GP patient survey taken from 1 January to 31 March 2023. This found that results were in line with the national average, for patients’ response to how easy it was to get through to someone at their GP practice on the phone, those who were very satisfied or fairly satisfied with their GP practice appointment times, and those who responded positively to the overall experience of making an appointment. Patients had access to interpretation services where required. The practice aimed to tailor their communications to meet individual need, for instance text messaging or letter communications for the hard of hearing. The practice was accessible to patients with mobility needs. We found that leaders had responded to patient feedback and were making improvements. For instance, by monitoring telephone waiting times and calls abandoned data, and deploying staff flexibly to meet extra demand at busy times. We received one response through the 'Give Feedback on Care' system, which was positive.

Leaders demonstrated they were aware of the challenges to patient access and had acted to improve patient access, for instance, upgrading their website to include signposting to other services such as community pharmacy, and self-referral services such as talking therapies and stopping smoking services, thus freeing up appointment time. The majority of reception staff had completed care navigation training, allowing patients to be accurately directed for their care needs. Leaders monitored and promoted use of the e-consult system and demonstrated saved appointment times on a monthly basis through use of the system, freeing up face to face appointments for those with clinical need or who may struggle to access online services. Leaders monitored phone call data including call waiting times and call abandoned rates and used this information to deploy staff flexibly to meet times of peak demand. Feedback from staff demonstrated people in vulnerable circumstances were easily able to register with the practice, including those with no fixed abode such as homeless people and Travellers. The practice provided opportunities and support for different groups of patient population to overcome health inequalities. The practice monitored ‘did not attend’ rates and sent reminders to patient before their appointments by either text, letter or phone call, depending on their communication needs.

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.