The College Practice

Updated 28 March 2022

The College Practice is located in Maidstone, Kent at 50-52 College Road, Maidstone, Kent, ME15 6SB.

The practice has branch surgeries at:

• Barming Surgery (Branch Site), Marigold Way, Maidstone, Kent, ME16 0ZJ.
• Allington Surgery (Branch Site), 26 Tichborne Close, Allington, Maidstone, Kent, ME16 0RY

We visited The College Practice only, as part of this inspection activity.

The provider is registered with CQC to deliver the following Regulated Activities; diagnostic and screening procedures, maternity and midwifery services and treatment of disease, disorder or injury and surgical procedures. These are delivered from all sites.

The practice offers services from both a main practice and a branch surgery. Patients can access services at either surgery.

The practice is situated within the Kent and Medway Clinical Commissioning Group (CCG) and delivers General Medical Services (GMS) to a patient population of about 13,805. This is part of a contract held with NHS England.

The practice is part of a wider network of GP practices known as ABC primary care network (PCN).

Information published by Public Health England shows that deprivation within the practice population group is in the sixth decile. The lower the decile, the more deprived the practice population is relative to others.

According to the latest available data, the ethnic make-up of the practice area is 92% White, 5% Asian, 1% Black and 2% Mixed.

The practice staff consists of two GP partners (male and female). They are supported by five salaried GPs (three male and two female), seven practice nurses (female), four health care assistants (female) and four pharmacists. The GPs are also supported by a team of reception/administration staff.

Due to the enhanced infection prevention and control measures implemented since the pandemic and in line with the national guidance, most GP appointments were telephone consultations. If the GP needs to see a patient face-to-face, then the patient is offered a choice of either the main practice or one of the branch surgeries.

Extended access is provided locally by the PCN, where late evening and weekend appointments are available. Out of hours services are provided by other service providers.

Updated 28 March 2022

We carried out an announced focused inspection at The College Practice, Maidstone, Kent, on 25 February 2022 in response to information of concern we received regarding access to the practice.

Overall, the practice remains rated as Good and the rating for the responsive key question remains Good.

Following our previous inspection on 18 January 2017, the practice was rated Good overall and for all key questions. The full reports for previous inspections can be found by selecting the ‘all reports’ link for The College Practice on our website at www.cqc.org.uk.

How we carried out the inspection

Throughout the pandemic CQC has continued to regulate and respond to risk. However, taking into account the circumstances arising as a result of the pandemic, and in order to reduce risk, we have conducted our inspections differently.

This inspection was carried out in a way which enabled us to spend a minimum amount of time on site. This was with consent from the provider and in line with all data protection and information governance requirements.

This included:

• Requesting evidence from the provider.
• A short site visit.

This inspection was part triggered as a result of a piece of work Care Quality Commission (CQC) was undertaking around the urgent and emergency care integrated pathway for patients in Kent and Medway. To understand the experience of GP providers and people who use GP services, we asked a range of questions in relation to urgent and emergency care. The responses we received have been used to inform and support system wide feedback.

Our findings

We based our judgement of the quality of care at this service on a combination of:

• what we found when we inspected
• information from our ongoing monitoring of data about services and
• information from the provider, patients, the public and other organisations.

We have rated this practice as Good overall

We found that:

• The practice organised and delivered services to meet patients’ needs effectively.
• Patients were positive about treatment and caring nature of the staff. We received mixed feedback about online service provision and prescription issues. Although patients were able to access the treatment concerns were raised about telephone access and the provider was addressing these. Throughout the inspection, we saw evidence that the practice had taken action to improve access to services. There was an action plan under continuous review for all areas of improvement, with a particular focus on how patients accessed the practice.

Details of our findings and the evidence supporting our ratings are set out in the evidence tables.

Dr Rosie Benneyworth BM BS BMedSci MRCGP

Chief Inspector of Primary Medical Services and Integrated Care