Spinney Hill Medical Centre

On this page

• Overview
• Kindness, compassion and dignity
• Treating people as individuals
• Independence, choice and control
• Responding to people’s immediate needs
• Workforce wellbeing and enablement

We looked for evidence that the service involved people and treated them with compassion, kindness, dignity and respect.

At our last assessment, we rated this key question as good. At this assessment, the rating remains the same.

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.

The service always treated people with kindness, empathy and compassion and respected their privacy and dignity. Staff treated colleagues from other organisations with kindness and respect.

Arrangements were in place to promote patients’ privacy. National GP Patient Survey data reflected people felt listened to and were treated with kindness. The practice carried out exercises to get patients feedback via family and friends and via text messages. Feedback was mainly positive however where any negative feedback was received, the practice actively followed up to investigate. Staff we spoke with understood Gillick competency and there was a process to ensure young adults had control over their own privacy and the amount of parental involvement in managing their care and support.

The service treated people as individuals and made sure people’s care, support and treatment met people’s needs and preferences. They took account of people’s strengths, abilities, aspirations, culture and unique backgrounds and protected characteristics.

Patients’ personal, cultural, social, religious and equality characteristics needs were understood and met. The practice was aware of their multicultural population and would adapt their services as necessary. The PPG were passionate about engaging with all communities to educate people on services that were available to them at the practice. Patient communication needs were met to enable them to be fully involved in their care. Where patients spoke different languages, the practice had some staff members who could translate and always asked patients which language they would prefer to speak in. For languages not spoken by staff, a translator service was used. We saw evidence of additional support being given to patients with different communication needs including additional time, and written support for patients who preferred visual aids.

The service promoted people’s independence, so people knew their rights and had choice and control over their own care, treatment and wellbeing.

Staff helped patients and their carers to access advocacy and community-based services. The practice social prescriber supported patients with additional care needs. The practice worked with community pharmacies to encourage patients to attend for blood pressure monitoring and referred to the practice for additional support if necessary. Health checks were offered to patients in order to identify patients who may be at risk of developing long term conditions.

The service listened to and understood people’s needs, views and wishes. Staff responded to people’s needs in the moment and acted to minimise any discomfort, concern or distress.

There was a system for appointment triage that ensured patients’ needs were met within an appropriate timescale. Staff had received training to identify symptoms which required urgent attention, which was further supported with visual aids in reception and where telephone calls were taken, to aide staff. Staff we spoke with knew the process for referral to emergency support, including mental health crisis teams.

The service cared about and promoted the wellbeing of their staff and supported and enabled staff to always deliver person-centred care.



Staff told us they were valued by leaders and reported that the leaders were well integrated within the team with no hierarchical structure. Leaders had taken steps to recognise and meet the wellbeing needs of staff, which included the necessary resources and facilities for safe working. Staff reported being supported if they were struggling at work. Staff were supported with any development needs they requested, and many staff had progressed within the practice. We saw team building days were established within the practice. The practice offered incentives for workers including employee of the month to celebrate staff who had gone the extra mile for patients.