VHK Women's Health Clinic

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

The 2 doctors who owned the service had policies and procedures in place to ensure services were tailored to meet the needs of individual patients. They provided a service which offered flexibility, choice, and continuity of care. Patients were involved in regular reviews of their treatment and asked to give regular feedback. The 2 doctors who owned the service were able to demonstrate where improvements had been made because of learning from patient feedback. The 2 doctors who owned the service evidenced innovative approaches to providing integrated care pathways which involved other service providers. They provided public facing events to ensure the information and skills they have around the menopause could be shared with a wider audience as well as patients who chose to pay for the service.

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.

Patient’s individual needs and preferences were central to all appointments and meant people received a service which was tailored to their needs.

The 2 doctors who owned the service used innovative ideas and the latest guidance to ensure people received an integrated person-centred level of care. They discussed options for the use of other services which would enhance the treatments they offered. The doctors took an integrated approach to treatment and ensured patients had relevant information about diet, nutrition, sexual safety, and exercise to support the treatment provided.

The 2 doctors who owned the service made sure patients were at the centre of their care and treatment choices. They ensured patients received the most appropriate care and treatment for them, and doctors made reasonable adjustments where necessary. The 2 doctors who owned the service ensured patients were aware of the care and treatment options. After a consultation, patients were able to take time to consider all their options before they decided on any treatment. Staff provided patients with contact details for them to get in touch with them if they had any queries and received a prompt response from the person who had treated them.

The 2 doctors who owned the service understood the diverse needs of the local community and how treatment needed to be individualised and delivered in a way that met a patient’s assessed needs. They ensured care was joined up, flexible and supported patients’ choice by building working relationships and communication with other professionals so patients received person centred care in a timely and seamless way.

Partners gave positive feedback about the person-centred care and provision patients received. Integrated pathways meant patients received the treatment in the way they wanted and supported by professionals who understood their health needs.

The 2 doctors who owned the service ensured there was continuity in patients care and treatment. They had policies and procedures in place which reflected the needs of the local community and informed how the doctors would work with local partners to improve health care for women. he 2 doctors who owned the service had received recognised training in providing support for people with a learning disability and autistic people.

Patients could access information in several ways. This could be directly from staff or through the website. The 2 doctors who owned the service gave talks in the community to the public so they could raise awareness of the menopause, treatment options and lifestyle choices.

The 2 doctors who owned the service used information in a range of formats to ensure patients understood the treatments offered. These met the Accessible Information Standard which sets out a specific, consistent approach to identifying, recording, flagging, sharing, and meeting the information and communication support needs of patients with a disability or sensory loss. The service also provided information to patients who did not speak English as a first language through translation and interpretation services. included access to information in other languages and access to interpretation services.

The service had a policy on how to meet the communication needs of individuals. This outlined how the doctors could access interpretation services including British Sign Language used by some d/Deaf people.

We received feedback from patients who told us they felt listened to and involved in making decisions. Patients told us they felt they had the time to discuss their concerns and never felt rushed into making a decision.

The 2 doctors who owned the service actively encouraged patients to give feedback. They understood the importance of this so services could be changed or improved. As this was an equal partnership between two doctors who provided all aspects of the treatment, they held regular meetings to discuss innovation and any concerns which had been raised through feedback from patients. This was used to discuss ongoing quality improvement.

The provider had a complaint policy and procedure, and complaint forms were available at the service. There had been no complaints since the service opened. The service recognised the importance of patient feedback and learning was seen as an opportunity for improvement. The service used Google reviews as a form of feedback but recognised the disadvantage to this was patients were unable to leave anonymous comments. The service then created feedback forms for patients to complete after their appointment and leave anonymously in the waiting area. Staff reviewed feedback they received including online reviews and evidence was shared and discussed in quarterly governance meetings.

Patients had no concerns about accessing the service where they could book by phone, in person or online with the clinician they wanted to see. The building was accessible for disabled people. Patients were greeted at reception and provided with a waiting area. Appointments were available at a range of times during the day and in the evening. Patients could choose to have a consultation face to face or by telephone and staff accommodated this. The 2 doctors who owned the service attended public events to ensure people who may not have heard of this type of service could access the same information as people using the website. This would give patients the information they needed to support them to discuss treatment options with their GP if they could not afford a private appointment.

The service was flexible to ensure patients were able to access the care, support, and treatment they needed. The 2 doctors who owned the service recognised that although this was a paid for service some patients may prefer to go to their NHS GP for a prescription. The service supported this, and staff wrote to the named GP with recommendations based on their consultation. Staff also offered an option for patients to go back to them in the future for a review if they wanted to. This ensured patients could still access the care and treatment in a way which worked for them. The service recognised the barriers for patients accessing the service and made adjustments to ensure equal access. For example, the service opened outside of their normal operating hours to accommodate those who could not attend during the typical working day. We saw examples of patients attending appointments in the evening and appointments being offered on Saturday mornings. Staff recognised not all people had the option to seek private treatment and they wanted to change this to improve access to high quality women’s health care.

The 2 doctors who owned the service had policies and processes in place to ensure equity in access. These included policies for equality and diversity, human rights, accessibility to the service and safeguarding. They recognised the need to reach patients from communities who were harder to reach due to protected characteristics such as race, religion and disability or those whose circumstances meant they could not seek private treatment and they wanted to change this to improve access to high quality women’s health care. The doctors volunteered to deliver many events to the local community on different aspects of women’s health as well as offering their time to talk at other local women’s groups. Their website also provided people with free information about women’s health.

People gave positive feedback about the way they received their care. It met their needs, they felt listened to by staff who understood how they were feeling. This meant they received the outcomes they were hoping for.

The 2 doctors who owned the service told us they were alert to discrimination and inequality which could disadvantage different groups of people from accessing care, treatment, and support. They told us one of their future aims was to continue to break down different cultural backgrounds to ensure everyone has equal access to improving their knowledge on women’s health.

The service complied with legal equality and human rights requirements, including avoiding discrimination, having regard to the needs of people with different protected characteristics and making reasonable adjustments to support equity in experience and outcomes. The service had systems in place to review patient feedback. This was used to review the patient experience and address any instances of discrimination. Doctors engaged with a wide range of external professional groups, and this supported them to think about the wider impact for discrimination and ensured they used equality impact statements when writing their policies.

Patients had the opportunity to discuss their future so doctors could include these plans in their care and treatment. Patients reported positive outcomes of being able to achieve their goals which they had previously thought were not possible.

The 2 doctors who owned the service gave examples of how the discussed the future with patients. This aspect was important to ensuring patients achieved the outcomes they wanted to be able to lead full and happy lives.