Sydney Street Medical: using patient feedback to support quality improvement

Sydney Street Medical is a well-established general practice in Mackay, Queensland, providing a broad range of health services including general medicine, skin cancer checks, mental health support, and Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander health checks. Guided by the belief that they are “dedicated to healthier, happier communities,” the clinic is committed to delivering accessible, continuous care for patients of all ages. With a strong focus on building lasting relationships, the team works closely with individuals and families to support health across every stage of life.

As part of their ongoing quality improvement journey, and in preparation for accreditation, the practice turned to CFEP Surveys’ Practice Accreditation Survey to gather structured, meaningful feedback from their patients. More than just a compliance step, the Practice Accreditation Survey tool provides practices with reliable insights to strengthen patient care, team engagement, and continuous quality improvement activities.

We recently spoke with Practice Manager, Emma Pullen and the team at Sydney Street Medical to learn how they approached the process, the insights they gained, and how patient feedback is shaping their ongoing commitment to high-quality care.

The importance of patient feedback in care

At Sydney Street Medical, patient feedback plays a central role in shaping the way care is delivered. Practice Manager, Emma Pullen, explains that listening to patients helps the team better understand community needs and expectations while reinforcing a culture of collaboration.

“Patient feedback is important to ensure that we have a good understanding of our community needs and expectations. It is also important that our community know that we want their opinion and will listen” Emma says.

The wider team agrees, noting that giving patients a voice not only makes them feel heard but also empowers them to contribute to improvements in their care. This approach has created a culture where feedback is actively acknowledged and acted upon, rather than being filed away. Patients know their opinions matter, and staff feel confident that changes are guided by real experiences from the community they serve.

By embedding feedback into everyday practice, Sydney Street Medical ensures that continuous improvement is not just an abstract goal, but a lived value that shapes the patient experience.

Driving improvement and team engagement through feedback

Using a structured patient survey has provided benefits that span beyond just meeting accreditation requirements. According to Emma, the CFEP Surveys Practice Accreditation Survey has been “a great resource to monitor progress” over time. Offering the team a clear picture of how patients view their care.

Importantly, the survey results became a catalyst for team connection. Reviewing the feedback together created opportunities for team-building and continuous quality improvement (CQI) activities. Staff could openly celebrate what the practice was doing well, while also collaborating on solutions for areas needing attention.

Seeing the results also raised awareness across the practice. Staff gained a clearer understanding of how patients rated every aspect of their experience, from communication to accessibility, which reinforced accountability and focus. Rather than feedback being something owned by management alone, the whole team became engaged in the improvement journey.

By turning feedback into a shared resource, the survey process helped embed a mindset of continuous improvement, strengthening both service quality and team culture.

Benchmarking and accuracy: why a validated tool matters

While there are informal feedback channels available, the team at Sydney Street Medical emphasises the importance of using a validated, industry-specific tool. The CFEP Surveys Practice Accreditation Survey provides structured, reliable data that goes beyond anecdotal comments, giving practices confidence that they are working with accurate insights.

Because CFEP Surveys’ Practice Accreditation Survey is RACGP-approved and used by thousands of general practices across Australia, the results come with comprehensive national benchmarking. For Sydney Street Medical, this context was invaluable: it allowed the team to see how their performance compared with peers across the country, rather than interpreting feedback in isolation.

“Accurate and benchmarked feedback is important to ensure general practices know that they have met accredited standards,” Emma notes. She adds that working with a reputable, unbiased survey provider ensures results are both credible and relevant to the realities of general practice.

While tools like social media reviews or online ratings can be useful for business reputation, they don’t provide the validity, comparability, or depth required for accreditation and genuine quality improvement. As the team observed, having access to trusted, benchmarked data “makes the practice strive higher,” motivating staff to aim beyond compliance and towards excellence in patient care. 

Collecting feedback: paper vs. digital

To ensure feedback was representative of their diverse patient base, Sydney Street Medical used a combination of paper-based questionnaires and digital surveys. This hybrid approach gave patients choice and maximised participation across different age groups and comfort levels with technology.

“Due to our patient base, we used a mixture of paper and digital surveys,” Emma explains. Patients were invited randomly during visits, with staff handing out paper forms in the clinic while also offering a digital option. Each method had clear benefits: moving towards digital reduces paper use and aligns with environmental sustainability goals, but relying on digital alone risks excluding some patients.

Emma noted potential impacts for taking on a ‘digital-only’ approach, particularly in regional, rural, and remote communities where access to technology can be inconsistent. “Australia is a vast country and many regional, rural and remote communities are still disadvantaged, having a variety of challenges, needs and gaps. It is important to cater for all Australians,” she says.

The team also found that while digital options are convenient, some patients are less inclined to complete a survey once they leave the practice. Offering both paper and digital formats ensures inclusivity and increases the likelihood of capturing meaningful feedback. In this way, the practice could balance sustainability ambitions with equitable access for all patients.

Turning feedback into action

For Sydney Street Medical, collecting patient feedback was only the first step. The real value came from using the results to guide improvements. Emma ensured the report was shared openly with the whole team, placing a hard copy in the staff lunchroom for casual reading and discussion. This transparency encouraged everyone to reflect on the findings and come prepared to contribute to more structured conversations.

Dedicated team meetings then provided space to review the results together. Staff celebrated the positive feedback, reinforcing what was working well, while also developing action plans for areas that could be strengthened. Emma shared that this process created a “great space for team-building exercises,” as responding to patient suggestions unified the team around shared goals.

Importantly, the practice ensured these discussions weren’t just done internally. They worked on closing the feedback loop by communicating back to patients, posting updates on social media, displaying information in the clinic, and highlighting changes made as a direct result of patient input. “This helps with transparency and gives the community trust that we listen and respect their opinion,” Emma says.

As a direct result of patient feedback, improvements implemented have included:

• Waiting room seating – Adjusting the layout to make the area more comfortable and accessible.
• Appointment availability – Expanding ‘on the day’ appointments to improve access to care.
• Staff development – Providing targeted training in areas highlighted by patients.
• Patient information – Broadening the ways health information is shared with the community.

These actions reinforced a culture of continuous quality improvement, ensuring feedback was not just collected but transformed into meaningful change.

Making the most of patient feedback

Emma believes that patient feedback should be used to its full capacity as a valuable source of information for the business. This means continually involving the team in reviewing feedback and brainstorming solutions to any issues that may arise. It also means communicating the outcomes to patients, both positive and negative, and the changes the practice is making as a result. Emma suggests sharing these outcomes through whatever channels best suit the community and organisation, even casual word of mouth conversations.

By being open about their feedback and the improvement initiatives, the practice reinforces to patients that their voices truly matter. Sydney Street Medical team is fully committed to always accepting feedback, good and bad, as an opportunity to learn and grow. With their proactive and inclusive approach, patient feedback remains at the heart of their mission to deliver care for healthier, happier communities, today and in the future.

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We thank Emma and the Sydney Street Medical team for sharing their Practice Accreditation Survey experience. Their example highlights how collecting accurate, benchmarked patient feedback supports accreditation, strengthens teams, builds trust, and inspires ongoing improvements in patient care.