- GP practice
Modality Partnership (AWC) Also known as Modality Partnership
Report from 11 April 2024 assessment
Contents
Ratings
Our view of the service
Modality Partnership (AWC) is located in Keighley at: Kilmeny Group Medical Practice 50 Ashbourne Road, Ingrow, Keighley, West Yorkshire, BD21 1LA. The practice offers services from a main practice and at 10 branch practices. Patients can access services at any site to suit them. The branch practices are as follows Long Lee Surgery, Oakworth Medical Practice, Haworth Medical Practice, Silsden Surgery, Steeton Surgery, Holycroft Surgery, Cross Hills Group Practice, Farfield Group Practice, Fisher Medical Centre, Gargrave Surgery The practice is situated within the NHS West Yorkshire Integrated Care Board and delivers Personal Medical Services (PMS) to around 87,000 patients. We carried out an announced assessment of 3 quality statements, equity of access, equity and experience of outcomes, and listening to and involving people under the key question of Responsive in May 2024. The assessment was undertaken following some concerns raised by patients and other stakeholders regarding the accessibility of services. We found that the practice had organised services to meet patients’ needs and that these were accessible to them. We saw that the practice had introduced a new digital triage system to support patients to access services according to clinical need and that they were committed to reviewing and improving this in response to patient feedback. We found the provider had measures in place to support patients who had difficulties utilising the digital triage system and that this included supporting patients, who preferred to contact the practice by telephone or in person, with completion of the online triage tool. In addition, we saw that the provider delivered a range of services and initiatives to improve community health and tackle health inequalities.
People's experience of this service
Prior to the assessment Care Quality Commission (CQC) received concerns regarding accessibility issues such as the inability to access face-to-face appointments, and technical issues related to the new online booking tool. Whilst we recognised that the information we received represented a very small percentage of the registered population we looked for assurance during our assessment of what steps the provider had in place to support these patients. The latest National GP Patient Survey which was undertaken in 2023 saw 689 surveys being sent to patients, 221 of these were returned (32% completion rate). This represented approximately 0.25% of the list size. Responses indicated that patients were happy with clinical care, felt listened to and were given enough time during their last appointment. However, responses relating to accessing the appointment were less positive. For example, only 19% found it easy to get through to the practice by phone. NHS Friends and Family Test results from April 2024 showed that from 1,340 responses received 65% would have been either extremely likely or likely to recommend the practice to others. The provider had developed an action plan which outlined changes in response to the accessibility concerns. This included a move to the a total triage system (launched in April 2023) which ensured all appointment requests were assessed by individual clinical need, and the introduction of the Voice Connect secure automated repeat prescription telephone ordering service. As part of the assessment, we spoke with 2 patients. They both told us that they felt services provided by the practice were accessible to them, and that they found that the process of completing the online access tool used to make appointments was easy and equitable. We heard how digital inclusion training had been provided for patients and this included sessions using an interpreter to reach those patients whose first language was not English.