Pitsmoor Surgery

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

The majority of patients were happy with the care and treatment that they received. We observed staff to be friendly and helpful with patients at the reception desk and on the telephone. Staff had received training in conflict resolution and information governance. We observed the environment to be suitable, there were privacy curtains in clinical rooms and trained chaperones were available when required. Staff we spoke with understood and respected the personal, cultural, social and religious needs of patients and had a very good understanding of their patient demographics.

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 received feedback from 79 patients as part of this assessment, 34 responses were positive about their experience stating they felt listened to, treated with dignity and respect and that staff were helpful and compassionate. The other 45 responses related mainly to the difficulty of accessing services by telephone and to an appointment with 6 commenting on poor staff attitudes. The 2024 National GP patient survey data reviewed by the practice showed 74% of patients found reception staff helpful (national average 83%). The GP National Patient Survey data from 2023 showed 70% of patients said they were treated with care and concern (expected 83.8%), 2024 National GP patient survey data showed 83% of people said they were treated with care and concern (national average 85%) and 90% had confidence and trust in the last healthcare professional they saw (national average 92%). We reviewed feedback received by Sheffield Healthwatch from 22 patients in the previous 12 months, these mainly related to difficulty accessing an appointment with 4 commenting on positive care and treatment and feeling listened to. The majority of on-line reviews by patients related to access.

Staff told us they supported bereaved families, this included sensitivity to and consideration of people’s cultural and religious needs. For example, they had created an information leaflet to share with bereaved families to support with the process, particularly around Muslim burials. Staff told us they attended regular team meetings where they were able to raise concerns and felt listened to if they did. Staff reported a positive working culture and said that they felt very supported by managers and the GPs.

The practice had appropriate chaperone processes in place. Clinical rooms had privacy curtains and staff had been trained in conflict resolution and customer services. We observed staff to be friendly and helpful with patients at the reception desk and on the telephone during our site visit and we could not hear conversations at the front desk when in the reception area.

We did not look at Treating people as individuals during this assessment. The score for this quality statement is based on the previous rating for Caring.

We did not look at Independence, choice and control during this assessment. The score for this quality statement is based on the previous rating for Caring.

The majority of patient feedback related to difficulty accessing an acute appointment when they required one and many patients reported they had to contact the practice over several days before they could get an appointment.

Leaders told us they were passionate about delivering a good high-quality service in balance with keeping its workforce safe. They responded to patients’ complaints with an apology if appropriate, an explanation of what went wrong and identified actions that would be taken to improve services or prevent the same thing happening again. These responses were monitored by the management team and discussed at staff meetings. They also reviewed the national Friends and Family test results to see how likely patients were to recommend the service. Leaders were aware of patient feedback regarding difficulty accessing the practice by telephone and access to an appointment. They told us they had implemented several different processes to address this to try to make access equitable to all patients and support the wellbeing of staff. For example, a duty doctor available daily to deal with triage and support care navigators dealing with appointment requests.

We did not look at Workforce wellbeing and enablement during this assessment. The score for this quality statement is based on the previous rating for Caring.