- GP practice
Elm Tree Medical Centre Also known as Dr Farah Zafar and Dr Ellahi Mansoor
Report from 12 February 2024 assessment
Contents
Ratings
Our view of the service
The Elm Tree Medical Centre is an NHS GP practice which provides primary care services to patients in an area of Stockton-on-Tees, Cleveland. We carried out an announced assessment of one quality statement, equity of access, under the key question Responsive at Elm Tree Medical Centre on the 5 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, the practice is rated as good and the key question responsive continues to be rated as providing a good service. We found that the practice organised services to meet patients’ needs, particularly those who were most likely to have difficulty accessing care. People can access care, treatment, and support when they need it, in a timely manner, and in a way that works for them. The practice seeks out and uses feedback, data, and other information to monitor and improve access. Feedback and data demonstrated peoples experience for access at this practice was very positive.
People's experience of this service
In the 2023 National GP Patient Survey, the practice’s data demonstrated responses to patient satisfaction with GP practice appointment times, how easy it is to get through to the practice by phone, satisfaction with the appointment offered, and with the overall experience of making an appointment were significantly more positive/higher than the national and local averages. Performance in these areas was consistently high in previous years also. Results from the NHS Friends and Family Test (FFT) were reviewed and found also to be very positive. For example, for four months (September to December 2023) 148 people responded to the survey with 100% of people positive about the practice. This is higher than the England average of 91%. The practice reviewed and acted on feedback from a variety of methods. Initiatives had been implemented as a result of patient feedback, for example, dedicated review slots to enable continuity of care with the same clinician. Feedback from the Patient Participation Group (PPG) also contributed to improvement initiatives. We recognise the pressure that practices are currently working under, and the efforts staff are making to maintain levels of access for their patients. Elm Tree medical centre understood and recognised their patient population and delivered services to meet their needs.