Updated 31 January 2024
We carried out an announced assessment of one quality statement, equity of access, under the key question Responsive on 7 February 2024 at the Alexandra Surgery. We carried out the assessment as part of our work to understand how GP practices are working to try to meet peoples demands for access and to better understand the experiences of people who use services and providers. The responsive key question remains rated as good. The service remains rated as good overall. 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, 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 GP practices are doing to improve patient access to primary care and sharing this information to drive improvement. At this assessment we found: People can access services when they need to, without physical or digital barriers, including out of normal hours and in an emergency. People are given support to overcome barriers to ensure equal access. Although, the leaders were aware of and monitored the patient access, this was not formally recorded. In addition, although staff described the prioritisation and triage of patients and some staff had completed training, the provider did not have sufficient policies and procedures in place to ensure a consistent approach by staff.