Castletown Medical Centre

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

At our previous inspection, the practice was rated good for providing a caring service. At this assessment we have rated the practice as requires improvement for providing a caring service. We were concerned that the health and welfare of some staff were at risk. Some staff told us the working environment was sometimes hostile and they were not treated respectfully. Staff fed back to us that they did their best to provide a good service to patients even though it was a challenge with limited clinical staff, lack of staff experience and limited training. The National GP Patient Survey results were below national averages for care and compassion.

This service scored 60 (out of 100) for this area. Find out what we look at when we assess this area and How we calculate these scores.

In the previous 12 months to our assessment the NHS choices website received 2 items of feedback about the doctor’s attitude who worked at the practice, saying they were dismissive of patients and did not listen. Both left a 1-star review. We asked the practice for any patient surveys or analysed feedback they had received. They told us they used the NHS friends and family survey as feedback. They sent us 18 scanned in forms undated of which 6 were blank. The practice sent us an independent survey of feedback on the GP who was the provider, there were 53 responses all positive, for example, for the question, how good did you feel the doctor was at caring for you? the score was 90% peer average: 93%. The National GP Patient Survey results were below national average for example; Patients who stated that the last time they had a general practice appointment, the healthcare professional was good or very good at listening to them (01/01/2023 to 30/04/2023) 71.2% national average 85% Patients who stated that the last time they had a general practice appointment, the healthcare professional was good or very good at treating them with care and concern 74.7% national average 83.8% Patients who stated that during their last GP appointment they had confidence and trust in the healthcare professional they saw or spoke to 81.3% national average 93%.

Staff fed back to us that they did their best to provide a good service to patients even though it was a challenge with limited clinical staff, lack of staff experience and limited training. They raised concerns with us about the number of appointments available for patients.

We did not observe any poor care during this assessment.

We did not look at Treating people as individuals during this assessment. The score for this quality statement is based on the previous rating for Caring.

We did not look at Independence, choice and control during this assessment. The score for this quality statement is based on the previous rating for Caring.

We did not look at Responding to people’s immediate needs during this assessment. The score for this quality statement is based on the previous rating for Caring.

Concerns raised by staff before our assessment were, staff were stressed, bullying of staff and lack of staff support. They said this had led to a high turnover of staff and inexperience. Staff felt their health and welfare were at risk. Feedback from staff at the time of our assessment was mixed. Some staff told us that the conduct and demeanour of the provider caused them stress in the workplace and the working environment was hostile, they were not treated respectfully. Others told us they were supported by the provider in their work at the practice. Following our assessment we received emails from some staff stating they were supported. We received whistleblowing information saying the provider had contacted staff and asked them to email the commission to say how good they were at their job, staff were worried about this and did not want to do this. The provider told us the staff could speak with them, the practice manager or the local integrated care board (ICB) if they had concerns, there was an open-door policy at the practice.

The practice provided us with the number of staff in post and the administrative rota. The practice had a whistleblowing policy, which included information on freedom to speak up guardians who could be contacted at other practices. However, some staff told us during our assessment that they were unaware they could speak up or who the freedom to speak up guardian was, they were only made aware they could speak up when we contacted them and sent out our questionnaires.