Thornton Lodge Surgery

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. Overall, we found that the practice provided a caring service. The staff treated patients with kindness and compassion while maintaining their privacy and dignity. The individuals’ needs and preferences were understood and if possible, they were offered choice in their care and treatment. Staff we spoke with understood and respected the personal, cultural, social and religious needs of patients and had a clear understanding of their patient demographics.

This is the first inspection for this service since its registration with CQC. This key question has been rated as Good.

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 treated people with kindness, empathy and compassion and respected their privacy and dignity. Staff treated colleagues from other organisations with kindness and respect. Staff understood the needs of the patient population and were able to provide care and treatment that met people’s needs. They understood and respected, cultural, social and religious needs of their patient. Staff explained how they observed patient religious beliefs and were supportive in making sure identified needs were met. For example, doctors had in the past attended the homes of recently deceased Muslim patients out of hours to complete death certification. This enabled them to be buried in line with their religious beliefs.

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. The surgery had access to an interpreter service, and offered longer appointments when needed. Several staff members within the practice were bilingual which ensured people were able to communicate effectively. Staffed noted patients’ personal needs and preferences on file to ensure their communication needs were met, and enabled them to be fully involved in their care. The practice did not have a hearing loop but had regular reviews about whether this was needed within the service. Staff that chaperoned had received the appropriate training, and were aware of their responsibilities in maintaining a person’s dignity and safety during an intimate examination.

The service promoted people’s independence, so people knew their rights and had choice and control over their own care, treatment and wellbeing. We reviewed the National GP Patient Survey data from 2024 as part of our assessment, and saw 88% of people said they were involved as much as they wanted to be in decisions about their care and treatment during their last general practice appointment. We saw 89% felt their needs were met during their last general practice appointment, which was slightly below the national and local figure of 90%. The practice was able to signpost patients to other services for support such as the NHS Community Pharmacist Consultation Service. The practice had social prescribers who discussed a variety of topics with patients, including help with benefits, homelessness and sleep issues. They also liaised with external actions groups to promote a number of other community projects such as, smoking cessation, breast and bowel cancer awareness sessions. They held diabetes campaigns in conjunction with the local Mosque linking this in with Ramadan, and highlighting portions and food control specifically linked to cultural food items.

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. Staff had achieved training appropriate to their role. Those with extended roles had completed additional training. Staff we spoke to knew how to respond when a patient was in needs of immediate or urgent attention. There were systems in place to support this, including the use of panic alarms, and availability of emergency equipment. Staff had received training in basic life support, sepsis awareness and use of a defibrillator. When introducing a digital triage system, staff held an awareness session to ensure people were able to navigate the new system. The people who were unable to completed forms online were noted on their records so there was no barrier to care provided.

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 felt supported by leaders and were able to get support when they required it. We saw that staff had team building and social events to promote teamworking. The practice carried out annual appraisals for employed staff members. These appraisals highlighted any area of concern the staff may have and any areas of progression the team members highlighted. However, it was noted that a small number of staff had not received a recent appraisal. They had recently implemented a new system of holding regular 1-1 meetings with the staff, and we had been shown documentation on how these would be carried out. Although this was a new process, staff members told us they were able to access support from their management team whenever they needed, and did not feel they need to wait for set meetings for this. The practice had policies in place that covered staff welfare, for example bullying and harassment and freedom to speak up. Although not all staff were able to explain the freedom to speak up process, a majority felt they could go to their manager if they had any concern. In most cases staff were appropriately trained and they were given sessions of protected learning time to complete any required courses. The practice demonstrated their staff training platform, and were able to show records of certificates. When staff mandatory or required training had not been completed or had expired the practice managers were made aware of this, and could inform staff to undertake the training, and track their progress in completing it.