Step Ladder Primary Care – We are deeply rooted in our commitment to enhancing primary healthcare services across the United Kingdom.

We are deeply rooted in our commitment to enhancing primary healthcare services across the United Kingdom.

At Stepladder Primary Care Group, we bring together over six decades of combined experience to support GP practices in enhancing leadership, management, and ensuring excellence in CQC compliance. Our mission is to deliver high-quality, safe, timely, effective, efficient, and equitable healthcare, harnessing responsible technological innovations and fostering stronger collaborative solutions with our stakeholders.

Vision Statement
Mission Statement

To be the foremost associate for GP practices in England, enabling them to achieve outstanding leadership, management, and compliance, thereby ensuring the delivery of exceptional patient-centred care.

These statements reflect our steadfast dedication to supporting GP practices and our unwavering commitment to delivering high-quality healthcare services that make a meaningful impact.

Our Values

At Stepladder Primary Care Group, our core values are encapsulated in the acronym CIRCLE, representing Compassion, Integrity, Respect, Continuous Learning, Leadership, and Excellence. The CIRCLE is a profound symbol that resonates deeply across various cultures and philosophies, embodying concepts of unity, completeness, and the cyclical nature of existence. By adopting the CIRCLE as our emblem, we commit to a path of continuous improvement, ensuring that our services are holistic and without gaps. We focus on our sphere of influence, dedicating ourselves to the values we’ve pledged to uphold and striving to enhance the well-being of our clients and communities through unwavering dedication and innovation.

Compassion: We are sensitive to the challenges faced by others and are deeply moved to alleviate or prevent those challenges by working collaboratively with our clients. This means actively listening to gain a deeper understanding of their needs, demonstrating empathy in our interactions, and providing personalised support tailored to their unique circumstances.

Intergrity: We live our code of values by:

Making only agreements we are willing, able, and intend to
Communicating any potentially broken agreements at the first appropriate opportunity to all parties concerned.
Looking to the system for correction and proposing all possible solutions if something is not working.
Operating in a responsible manner, communicating honestly and with
Asking clarifying questions if we disagree or do not
Never saying anything about anyone that we would not say to him or
Encouraging a culture of accountability, where every team member takes ownership of their commitments.
Continuously reflecting on our practices to ensure alignment with our core values.

Respect: We live our code of values by:

Treating others as we would like to be
Listening with the intent to understand what is being said and acknowledging that what is said is important to the speaker.
Responding in a timely
Speaking calmly and respectfully, without profanity or
Acknowledging everyone as right from their own
Valuing diversity and inclusivity, ensuring that all voices are heard and respected.
Promoting an open-door policy that fosters honest and constructive communication.

Continuous Learning: We believe that we are lifelong learners who see every situation, incident, challenge, setback, or feedback as an opportunity to learn. We actively seek lessons from our experiences, review our policies to ensure they remain fit for purpose, apply lessons learned, and evaluate to ensure that changes lead to improvement. We understand that not every change leads to improvement, but all improvements require change. Actively seeking professional development opportunities to stay at the forefront of healthcare advancements. Encouraging mentorship and knowledge-sharing among colleagues to foster a culture of growth.

Leadership: We view leadership as a process of guiding, directing, empowering, inspiring, and influencing others to exceed expectations and become better versions of themselves, all while achieving the common goal of providing high-quality services. We believe that everything rises and falls on leadership; it is the glue that holds the organization together to deliver exceptional services. Leading well is our motto, and we constantly ask ourselves, “How are we doing?” Leading by example and setting high ethical and professional standards in everything we do. Empowering others to develop their leadership skills, ensuring a sustainable leadership pipeline.

Excellence: We aim to be better than we were yesterday by continuously improving. We invite and embrace feedback from our stakeholders to ensure that our services are safe, timely, effective, efficient, equitable, and patient centered, providing a positive experience to our clients. We leverage technology responsibly to enable high-quality services and cultivate a highly committed and resilient workforce. Implementing a culture of innovation, where new ideas are encouraged and tested for continuous service improvement. Benchmarking our services against industry best practices to maintain the highest quality standards.

By embodying these values, we ensure that our actions align with our principles, fostering a culture of trust, collaboration, and continuous improvement.

At Stepladder Primary Care Group, we define quality in healthcare as the degree to which health services for individuals and populations increase the likelihood of desired health outcomes and are consistent with current professional knowledge. This definition aligns with the Institute of Medicine’s (IOM) perspective on healthcare quality.

The IOM identifies six domains of healthcare quality:

Safety: Avoiding harm to patients from the care that is intended to help
Effectiveness: Providing services based on scientific knowledge to all who could benefit and refraining from providing services to those not likely to benefit.
Patient-Centredness: Providing care that is respectful of and responsive to individual patient preferences, needs, and values, and ensuring that patient values guide all clinical decisions.
Timeliness: Reducing waits and sometimes harmful delays for both those who receive and those who give care.
Efficiency: Avoiding waste, including waste of equipment, supplies, ideas, and
Equity: Providing care that does not vary in quality because of personal characteristics such as gender, ethnicity, geographic location, and socioeconomic status.

By adhering to these domains, we strive to deliver healthcare services that are safe, effective, patient-centred, timely, efficient, and equitable, ensuring the highest standards of care for our service users.

At Stepladder Primary Care Group, we are deeply committed to advancing patient-centred care, recognising it as the cornerstone of effective healthcare delivery. Patient-centred care involves providing care that is respectful of, and responsive to, individual patient preferences, needs, and values, ensuring that patient values guide all clinical decisions.

Bridging the Gap in Patient Care: We have identified a significant disparity between the care patients currently receive and the optimal care they deserve. This gap motivates us to collaborate with all stakeholders to implement fundamental changes in the healthcare system. Our goal is to create a system where care is not only accessible but also attuned to the unique needs of each individual. Leveraging data-driven insights to identify and address healthcare disparities more effectively. Strengthening partnerships with community organisations to expand patient support services.

Enhancing the Healthcare Work Environment: Equally important is the environment in which healthcare professionals operate. We recognise that there is a gap between the existing work conditions and the ideal environment that fosters staff well-being and professional growth. We are dedicated to cultivating a workplace where staff feel a sense of belonging, are safe to make mistakes and learn from them, and are encouraged to contribute ideas and challenge the status quo. We firmly believe that there is no patient care without staff welfare. Recognising and rewarding excellence to motivate and retain top talent in healthcare. Implementing wellness programs to support healthcare staff in maintaining a healthy work-life balance.

Core Attributes of Patient-Centred Primary Care

To realise our vision of a patient-centred healthcare system, we focus on the following seven attributes:

Access to Care: Ensuring patients have timely and convenient access to healthcare services.
Patient Engagement in Care: Encouraging active participation of patients in their own care decisions. Offering digital health tools to empower patients with real-time access to their health data.
Information Systems: Utilising advanced information systems to support high- quality care and informed decision-making.
Care Coordination: Facilitating seamless coordination among various healthcare providers to ensure comprehensive care. Strengthening interdisciplinary communication to ensure no aspect of patient care is overlooked.
Integrated and Comprehensive Team Care: Promoting a multidisciplinary approach to address all aspects of a patient’s health.
Patient-Centred Care Surveys: Regularly collecting and acting upon patient feedback to improve care delivery.
Publicly Available Information: Providing transparent information to help patients make informed choices about their healthcare.

Envisioning an Ideal Healthcare System
We aspire to a healthcare system where the clinician-patient relationship is enhanced by ethical and responsible use of artificial intelligence, electronic medical records are available everywhere, and patients regularly provide feedback on their experiences, which is then used to improve care. In this ideal system, patients and clinicians collaborate to set individual and joint goals, with performance measured against these objectives. Community leaders work alongside clinicians to integrate community resources with clinical care, and patient advocates are represented in healthcare legislative, regulatory, and financing processes. Advocating for policy changes that support a more patient-centred healthcare infrastructure. Investing in cutting-edge research to explore new models of healthcare delivery.

Defining Quality Healthcare
We define quality healthcare as providing the right care (care that the patient needs) in the right way (in the manner the patient desires) at the right time (at the time the patient desires). This approach ensures that care is tailored to individual needs and delivered efficiently. Establishing measurable quality indicators to continuously assess and improve patient outcomes. Encouraging shared decision-making between clinicians and patients to personalise treatment plans.

Empowering Patients in Their Care: We acknowledge that patients now wish to have direct access to their medical records and the ability to be active partners in their care. We are committed to facilitating this by providing transparent information and encouraging shared decision-making. Providing patient education programs that enhance health literacy and self-care management. Creating feedback loops where patients can co-design services to better meet their needs.

Listening to the Patient’s Voice
Understanding patients’ perspectives is crucial. We prioritise learning about patients’ views on the care they receive, how well that care addresses their concerns, and what changes would be most effective in achieving patient-centred primary care. Feedback from patients is vital and serves as a cornerstone for continuous improvement. Conducting regular patient advisory panels to gain deeper insights into their experiences.

Characteristics of Patient-centred Primary Care Practice

A patient-centred primary care practice embodies the following characteristics:

Superb Access to Care: Ease of making appointments, timely responses to communications, and efficient use of time.
Patient Engagement in Care: Patients are informed and active partners in their care decisions.
Clinical Information Systems: Robust systems that support high-quality care and continuous improvement.
Care Coordination: Effective coordination of care across various providers and
Integrated, Comprehensive Team Care: A multidisciplinary team approach to address all patient needs.
Ongoing Patient Feedback: Regular collection and utilisation of patient feedback to inform practice improvements.
Publicly Available Information: Transparency in information to assist patients in making informed healthcare choices.

By embracing these principles, Stepladder Primary Care Group. is dedicated to transforming healthcare into a more patient-centred, responsive, and effective system for all.

Envisioning an Ideal Healthcare System

We aspire to a healthcare system where the clinician-patient relationship is enhanced by ethical and responsible use of artificial intelligence, electronic medical records are available everywhere, and patients regularly provide feedback on their experiences, which is then used to improve care.