- GP practice
OHP-Victoria Road Surgery
Report from 7 March 2024 assessment
Contents
Ratings
Our view of the service
OHP-Victoria Road Surgery is a NHS GP practice which provides primary care services to patients in the Acocks Green area of Birmingham. The practice is rated as good overall, and for all key questions. We carried out an announced assessment of one quality statement, equity of access, under the key question Responsive at OHP-Victoria Road Surgery on the 12 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, within 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. We found that the practice had organised services to meet patients’ needs, particularly those who were most likely to have difficulty accessing care. The practice used feedback and other information to monitor and improve access. The practice had taken action to improve access, however there had been a recent decline in GP patient survey data feedback in relation to access, which leaders felt had coincided with the retirement of a long-standing well-respected GP who knew the patients well.
People's experience of this service
In the 2023 National GP Patient Survey, the practice’s results for the 4 questions on access reviewed were in line with national averages. Trends in patient satisfaction showed the practice had been historically higher than the national average but had in the last couple of years showed a marked decline in comparison to their previous performance. For example, between 2022 and 2023 overall experience of making an appointment had fallen from 76% to 48%. Leaders felt this was due to the retirement of a long-standing and well-respected GP who knew the patients well. We received feedback from 2 patients in the last 12 months, both of which included comments relating to difficulties accessing appointments. Although not directly comparable to the National GP Patient Survey, feedback gathered by the practice through inhouse surveys was more positive. We recognise the pressure that practices are currently working under, and the efforts staff are making to maintain levels of access for their patients. At the same time, our strategy makes a commitment to deliver regulation driven by people’s needs and experiences of care. Although we saw the practice was attempting to improve access, this was not yet reflected in the recent GP patient survey data or in all other sources of patient feedback.