Updated 5 February 2024
Ford Medical Practice is a NHS GP practice which provides primary care services to patients in the Sefton area of Merseyside. We carried out an announced assessment of one quality statement, equity of access, under the key question Responsive at Ford Medical Practice on the 20 February 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 had organised services to meet patients’ needs, including those who were most likely to have difficulty accessing care. The practice used feedback and other information to monitor and improve access. We saw evidence of audit undertaken and changes implemented.