St Mark's Medical Centre

Updated 8 February 2024

St Mark's Medical Centre is an NHS GP practice which provides primary care services to patients in Southport in the borough of Sefton in Merseyside. We carried out an announced assessment of one quality statement, equity of access, under the key question Responsive at St Mark's Medical Centre on the 21 March 2024. We carried out the assessment as part of our work to understand how practices were 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. The responsive key question is also rated as good. However, the GP National Patient Survey data from 2023 showed improvements were needed to patient satisfaction with accessing the service by telephone, appointment times, experience of making an appointment and satisfaction with the appointment offered. Although the provider had made improvements these changes were yet to be reflected in the National GP Survey results. We found that the practice organised services to meet patients’ needs and sought and used feedback and other data/information to monitor and improve access.

Updated 8 February 2024

The National GP Patient Survey data was significantly below the national average for telephone access, and below the national average for satisfaction with appointment times, making an appointment and the appointment offered. The practice had reviewed and responded to this feedback and was monitoring patient satisfaction with access through patient surveys and through their Patient Participation Group (PPG). Patient feedback gathered by Healthwatch was mixed regarding access. A survey by an external service was carried out in 2022 which indicated 78% of all ratings, including access were very good or good. A further survey had been undertaken in 2023 and although the results were not available initial indications were that further improvements had been made. 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 National GP Patient Survey data.