Updated 22 February 2024
Patience Lane Surgery, also known as Dr Praveen Gutta, is an NHS GP practice which provides primary medical care services to patients living in Normanton near Wakefield, West Yorkshire. We carried out an announced assessment of one quality statement, equity of access, under the key question Responsive at the practice on the 4 March 2024. We carried out the assessment as part of our work to understand how practices are working to try to meet peoples demands for access and to better understand the experiences of people who use services and providers. We recognise the work that GP practices have been engaged in to continue to provide safe, quality care to the people they serve. We know staff are carrying this out whilst the demand for general practice remains exceptionally high, with more appointments being provided than ever. However, in this challenging context, access to general practice remains a concern for people. 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 innovatively to improve patient access to primary care, and sharing this information to drive improvement. Overall, Patience Lane Surgery is rated as good, and the key question of Responsive continues to be rated as providing a good service. We found that the practice had organised services to meet patients’ needs, and that these services were accessible to them. We saw that the practice had put in place measures to improve patient communication routes and overall accessibility. In addition, we saw that the provider worked closely with their Primary Care Network, and their local extended hours provider to increase the range of services on offer, and expand hours of operation when patients could be seen. The practice sought out and used feedback and other data and information to monitor and improve access to their patients.