Archived: Aspen Centre

Letter from the Chief Inspector of General Practice

We carried out an announced comprehensive inspection of London Medical Practice on 24 May 2016. We found that the practice had breached a regulation relating to the safe delivery of services. The practice was rated as requires improvement for safe and good for effective, caring, responsive and well led. Overall the practice was rated as good.

The practice required improvement for the provision of safe services to ensure that the risks associated with assessing, monitoring and improving the quality of services were in place. Specifically we found the registered person did not have thorough recruitment procedures, including undertaking appropriate pre-employment checks to ensure persons employed for the purposes of carrying out regulated activity were of good character. Curriculum vitae’s (CVs) and reference checks had not been completed for all staff.

Following the inspection the provider sent us an action plan detailing how they would improve their recruitment process to ensure that they reflected national guidelines.

We carried out a desktop inspection of London Medical Practice on 9 November 2016 to ensure these changes had been implemented and the service was meeting the regulations previously breached. For this reason we have only rated the location for the key question to which this related. This report should be read in conjunction with the full inspection report from 24 May 2016. You can read the report from our last comprehensive inspection, by selecting the 'all reports' link for London Medical Practice on our website at www.cqc.org.uk.

We found the practice had made improvements since our last inspection on 24 May 2016 and they were meeting the regulations that had previously been breached.

Specifically the practice was operating safe systems in relation to recruitment processes. This included:

• The practice had reviewed their systems for ensuring that two references were always received. The practice had amended the staff induction checklist to include a tick box for references requested and references obtained.

• The induction programme and recruitment policy were available on all practice computers to ensure that they were easily available for all staff members.
• The induction programme and recruitment policy were discussed at a practice meeting and minuted for all team members’ awareness.

We have changed the rating for this practice to reflect these changes. The practice is now rated good for the provision of safe, effective, caring, responsive and well led services.

Professor Steve Field (CBE FRCP FFPH FRCGP) 

Chief Inspector of General Practice

Letter from the Chief Inspector of General Practice

We carried out an announced comprehensive inspection at London Road Medical Practice on 24 May 2016. Overall the practice is rated as good.

Our key findings across all the areas we inspected were as follows:

• There was an open and transparent approach to safety and an effective system in place for reporting and recording significant events.
• Risks to patients were assessed and well managed.
• Staff assessed patients’ needs and delivered care in line with current evidence based guidance. Staff had been trained to provide them with the skills, knowledge and experience to deliver effective care and treatment.
• Patients said they were treated with compassion, dignity and respect and they were involved in their care and decisions about their treatment.
• Information about services and how to complain was available and easy to understand. Improvements were made to the quality of care as a result of complaints and concerns.
• Patients said they found it easy to make an appointment with a named GP and there was continuity of care, with urgent appointments available the same day.
• The practice had good facilities and was well equipped to treat patients and meet their needs.
• There was a clear leadership structure and staff felt supported by management. The practice proactively sought feedback from staff and patients, which it acted on.
• The provider was aware of and complied with the requirements of the duty of candour.
• The provider relocated premises to the Aspen Centre in August 2014 and during this period a number of key staff left employment, this difficult period was reflected in the 2014/15 Quality and Outcomes Framework (QOF) data. During our inspection we saw that the provider had rebuilt the practice team and significantly improved QOF data for 2015/16.

The areas where the provider must make improvement are:

• Ensure personnel files contain all documentation as set out in the practice recruitment policy and schedule three of the Health and Social Care Act 2008.

The areas where the provider should make improvement are:

• Assess, monitor and improve the quality and safety of the services provided in relation to legionella and fire risks.

• Establish patient participation engagement within the practice to ensure feedback is proactively sought and continue to explore ways to develop the patient participation group.

Professor Steve Field (CBE FRCP FFPH FRCGP) 

Chief Inspector of General Practice