Enter & View: Herne Hill Road Medical Practice and Minet Green Health Practice
During the visits, our team of Authorised Enter & View Representatives observed the environment and gathered feedback from patients, carers, and staff. The insight in these reports provides a snapshot in time of the experience of using these services at the time of our visits.
Key Findings
Practice environment
In both practices, the external and internal environments were accessible for most patients. Staff members demonstrated clear efforts to support and accommodate patients with additional needs.
Patient feedback
The patient population at both practices was very diverse, and translation services were offered to patients that required them. Staff at Minet Green faced some challenges booking translation services for the language needed at the time needed.
For both practices, most patients were happy with the quality of care they received from clinical and administrative staff, with occasional negative feedback about communication and administration.
Staff feedback
Staff members at both practices felt supported in their roles and were committed to continuous improvement, regularly discussing feedback and opportunities to better the patient experience.
Booking appointments
Minet Green Health Practice had recently switched to the Total Triage system, which increased the length of appointment times and successfully reduced administrative burden on GPs. Patients and staff were very happy with this system.
At Herne Hill Road, the shift to online appointment booking was well received by many patients but presented challenges for those with limited digital literacy. Staff were proactive in supporting these patients by offering in-person and phone support.
Recommendations
While our findings highlighted several good practice examples, we also made recommendations where there was room for improvement. Both practices responded to our reports and implemented many of our suggestions.
These include:
- Minor recommendations on signage and information and access and mobility were implemented by both practices.
- Minet Green provided Spanish flashcards to reception staff to facilitate communication with Spanish-speaking patients. They will continue working with administration staff on communication and managing challenging situations.
- Herne Hill Road recruited a social prescriber for one day per week at the request of their staff, as well as two salaried GPs to help with workload. The patient call message was extended from 5 sec to 30 sec so patients could read it longer.
Download the reports
The full reports, including findings, recommendations, and service provider responses, are available to download below.
You can also download the response from the Directorate of Primary Care, NHS South East London Integrated Care Board (Lambeth).
For more information on the reports, please contact our project lead Caroline O’Neill (Caroline.ONeill@healthwatchlambeth.org.uk).
“Thank you for sharing the recent insights into patient experiences. It’s encouraging to see the overall positive feedback, which is a testament to the hard work and dedication from practices, in delivering high-quality care. At the same time, we recognise that there are always opportunities to improve. […]
[Enter and View visits] are invaluable in helping to better understand patient perspectives and refine services accordingly."
What is Enter & View?
As part of our legal responsibilities, Healthwatch Lambeth carry out Enter and View visits. This involves visiting publicly funded health and social care services in Lambeth to observe and talk to service users, relatives and carers, and staff members. It is not an inspection; instead, we focus on gathering the views and experiences of the people receiving care.
