OHP-Church Road Surgery

Updated 7 March 2024

OHP - Church Road Surgery is a NHS GP practice which provides primary care services to patients in the Sheldon area of Birmingham. The practice is rated as Good overall, with all key questions rated as good, apart from Responsive, which is rated as requires improvement. We carried out an announced assessment of one quality statement, equity of access, under the key question Responsive at OHP – Church Road Surgery on the 11 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, 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, particularly in increasing capacity but this was not yet reflected consistently in the GP patient survey data or in other sources of patient feedback.

Updated 7 March 2024

In the 2023 National GP Patient Survey, the practice’s data for access was below national averages in most areas. In particular, with how easy it was to get through to someone at the GP practice on the phone. This had been identified as an area for improvement in a previous CQC inspection and data provided by the practice still showed a significant number of calls not answered despite actions being taken to identify and increase capacity on the phones during busy times. However, there had been some improvement in relation to access questions overall in the National GP Patient Survey from the previous year. Patient feedback gathered by the practice through inhouse surveys and other sources was more positive, and additional comments received indicated some improvements in the service, however there were still a number of negative comments relating to access. Results from this feedback gathered cannot be compared directly to the National GP Patient Survey. 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 GP patient survey data or other sources of patient feedback.