St James' Practice

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 responsive key question remains rated as good. One quality statement, Equity in Access, was included in this assessment. The practice used people’s feedback and other evidence to actively seek to improve access for people. Services were designed to make them accessible and timely for people who were most likely to have difficulty accessing care. A series of embedded and comprehensive audits regarding access were used to drive improvement at the practice. The practice identified and allocated resources as required to improve inequalities and support equity of access.

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.

We did not look at Person-centred Care during this assessment. The score for this quality statement is based on the previous rating for Responsive.

We did not look at Care provision, Integration and continuity during this assessment. The score for this quality statement is based on the previous rating for Responsive.

We did not look at Providing Information during this assessment. The score for this quality statement is based on the previous rating for Responsive.

We did not look at Listening to and involving people during this assessment. The score for this quality statement is based on the previous rating for Responsive.

In the 2023 National GP Patient Survey, the four main indicators used to measure access were above the local and national averages. The four indicators related to; telephone access; overall experience of making an appointment; satisfaction with GP practice appointment time; and satisfaction with the appointments they were offered. All four indicators scored higher than the local and and national averages. Patients could access appointments by phone, online and by visiting the practice. The practice's policy was to encourage and offer a face to face appointment , and remote appointments were provided upon the patient's request. Patients who had a request for an emergency appointment were seen the same day. The practice had access to an interpretation service for patients whom English language was not their first language or had other communication needs. The practice undertook ongoing audits to determine demand and capacity regarding their appointment system and continued to monitor the availability of appointments and staff. The practice regularly reviewed its' results from the Friends and Family Test and Google review, the results showed feedback relating to patient access was positive.

The practice leadership team understood the needs of its local population and had developed services in response to those needs. The practice told us they obtained feedback from various sources such as the GP patient survey, friends and family, internal surveys, complaints and via informal feedback from patients. The practice had reviewed and were actively responding to the GP patient survey results to continuously improve patient experience, most recently by changing their telephony system to include a call-back feature. The practice used an appropriate system where reception staff would ask the patient for enough information to make a decision regarding which clinician was appropriate for them to see. The leaders promoted face to face consultations, but also provided remote and online consultation service to improve access. Feedback from staff demonstrated people in vulnerable circumstances were easily able to register with the practice, including those with no fixed abode such as homeless people, asylum seekers and Travellers.

The practice was open Monday to Friday from 8am to 6:30pm. Extended hours appointments were available on Wednesdays 5.30pm-8pm, and Fridays 7.30am-8am. The practice also participates in the Primary Care Network appointments rota which operates on Mondays 4pm-8am, Tuesdays 7.30am-8am & 4pm-8pm, Wednesdays 6pm-8pm, Thursdays 7.30am-8am, Fridays 5pm-8pm and Saturdays 8am-5pm. When the practice was closed, patients were advised to contact NHS 111. The practice had arrangements in place for prioritising patients with the most urgent needs. IT systems were used to monitor phone lines, senior staff would have overall oversight on all daily incoming calls, ensuring call waiting times were being minimised. Staff were trained to book appointments with members of the practice clinical team, or signpost patients to other appropriate services and were supported to this by documented protocols and access to a duty doctor. Appointments were available with GPs, practice nurses, clinical pharmacist and physiotherapist. There was also a social prescriber. Appointments were adjusted to take into account demand from patients around school holidays and bank holidays and the time of year. The practice held regular staff meetings to discuss access related concerns. The practice was also actively involved with its patient participation group, we were told patient access was discussed regularly.

We did not look at Equity in experiences and outcomes during this assessment. The score for this quality statement is based on the previous rating for Responsive.

We did not look at Planning for the future during this assessment. The score for this quality statement is based on the previous rating for Responsive.