Archived: Vale Drive Medical Practice

Updated 9 November 2018

Vale Drive Medical Practice is located in Barnet, North London within the NHS Barnet Clinical Commissioning Group. It is situated in a purpose built health centre and shares the building with a number of other community NHS services. The practice holds a General Medical Services contract (an agreement between NHS England and general practices for delivering primary care services to local communities). The practice is registered with the Care Quality Commission to carry on the regulated activities of surgical procedures, treatment of disease, disorder or injury, diagnostic and screening procedures, maternity and midwifery services and family planning.

The clinical team at the practice included one male principal GP, one female long-term locum GP, two male locum GPs, one female practice nurse and one female healthcare assistant. The non-clinical team at the practice included one practice manager and six administrative members of staff.

The practice is open Monday to Friday from 8am to 6.30pm, apart form Thursday when the practice is open from 8am to 1pm (the service is covered by an out of hours provider from 1pm onwards). Urgent appointments are available each day and GPs also provide telephone consultations for patients. An out of hour’s service is provided for patients when the practice is closed. Information about the out of hour’s service is provided to patients on the practice website and the practice phone system.

Updated 9 November 2018

This practice is rated as Good overall. (Previous rating June 2016 – Requires Improvement). The previous rating in June 2016 of ‘Requires Improvement’ was under different management. We found that the new provider had made significant improvements across the practice.

The key questions at this inspection are rated as:

Are services safe? – Good

Are services effective? – Good

Are services caring? – Good

Are services responsive? – Good

Are services well-led? - Good

We carried out an announced comprehensive at Vale Drive Medical Practice as part of our inspection programme.

At this inspection we found:

That the provider had effective governance processes in place, risk was well managed and there was evidence of improvements to patient care.

For example:

• The practice had clear systems to manage risk so that safety incidents were less likely to happen. When incidents did happen, the practice learned from them and improved their processes.
• The practice routinely reviewed the effectiveness and appropriateness of the care it provided. It ensured that care and treatment was delivered according to evidence- based guidelines.
• Staff involved and treated patients with compassion, kindness, dignity and respect.
• Patients found the appointment system easy to use and reported that they were able to access care when they needed it.
• There was a strong focus on continuous learning and improvement at all levels of the organisation.

The areas where the provider should make improvements are:

• Ensure the improvements made to the management of high risk medicines are sustained and embedded.
• Ensure ongoing checks for patient safety alerts relating to new patients are recorded.

Professor Steve Field CBE FRCP FFPH FRCGP
Chief Inspector of General Practice

Please refer to the detailed report and the evidence tables for further information.

Updated 9 November 2018

Updated 9 November 2018

Updated 9 November 2018

Updated 9 November 2018

Updated 9 November 2018

Updated 9 November 2018