Poplar Grove Practice

Updated 26 February 2024

We carried out an announced assessment of one quality statement, equity of access, under the key question Responsive at Poplar Grove Practice on 9 February 2024. Overall, the practice is rated as good. Following this assessment, the key question of responsive remains rated as good. The assessment was carried out to understand people’s experiences in accessing GP services. We know demand for GP appointments remains exceptionally high with more appointments being requested than ever. Despite this increase in demand, we recognise the work that GP practices have been engaged in, through their staff, in ensuring that they provide safe, quality care to the people that use their services. We recognise that due to the increase in demand access to services remains a concern for the public. We carried out the assessment as part of our work to understand how practices are working to try to meet increased demand for access and to better understand the experiences of people who use services. 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 to improve patient access to primary care and sharing this information to drive improvement.

Updated 26 February 2024

People that use services were able to book appointments in various ways. Appointments could be booked by visiting the practice in person. Other appointments were offered via email for patients with accessibility needs. Most of the patients relied on booking their appointments through the telephone. Data from the GP survey results indicated that people who accessed this service through telephone faced some challenges due to long call waiting times. Only 10% of the people that responded to the survey found it easier to access the practice this way. This is below the national average which is 50%. In the GP survey results, 19% described their experience of making an appointment as good compared to the national average of 54%. The practice was the largest practice in the town where it is located. Due to a new housing estate nearby, Poplar Grove Practice was experiencing an increase in new patients as they were registering an average of 45 new patients per week. This has significantly increased demand for appointments at this practice.