- GP practice
Birchwood Medical Practice
Report from 1 August 2024 assessment
Contents
Ratings
Our view of the service
Date of assessment: 17 September 2024 to 25 September 2024. Birchwood Medical Practice is an NHS GP practice located in the city of Lincoln in an area with mixed levels of deprivation. There were approximately 10,500 people registered with the service at the time of our assessment. We conducted this assessment due to the length of time since the previous rating of the service. We assessed 5 quality statements across safe, effective, responsive, and well-led key questions. At this assessment, we found there was a strong focus on safety and saw managers investigated concerns appropriately and demonstrated a clear learning culture. Staff involved people in decisions about their care and treatment and supported them to access care and ask questions. The provider had clear and effective governance systems, which staff regularly reviewed.
People's experience of this service
People and their representatives were positive about the quality of their care and treatment. There was an active patient participation group (PPG) who represented the views of people using the service. Representatives from the PPG described how managers made positive changes because of feedback and updated the PPG on outcomes of any suggestions or feedback they gave. We spoke with representatives from the care homes the provider served. They felt they had a good relationship with the practice and described them as responsive to concerns regarding people’s needs. The provider shared details of our Give Feedback on Care (GFC) process on their website and we received positive feedback from patients through this process. This included comments about the professionalism, knowledge and empathy shown by both clinical and non-clinical staff and how people were actively involved in their care and treatment. There was appreciation for improvements made by the practice to promote equity in experience and access to the practice, such as the introduction of a ‘calm corner’ in the waiting room for patients with additional needs