The Village Medical Centre

Updated 4 July 2017

The Village Medical Centre is situated in Slough. The practice is a purpose built premises with car parking for patients and staff. There is ramp access for patients and visitors who have difficulty managing steps. All patient services are on the ground floor. The practice comprises of three consulting rooms, two treatment rooms, one patient waiting area, administrative and management offices and a meeting room.

There are four GP partners and four salaried GPs at the practice. Two GPs are male and six female. The practice employs two practice nurses. The practice executive manager is supported by a data manager and a team of administrative and reception staff. Services are provided via a Primary Medical Services (PMS) contract (PMS contracts are negotiated locally between GP representatives and the local office of NHS England).

The practice has approximately 13,000 patients registered and patients can attend any of the two practice locations. The practice population of patients aged between 0 to 14 and 25 to 44 years is higher than national average and there are a lower number of patients over 50 years old compared to national average.

Services are provided from following two locations. We did not visit The Sussex Place Surgery during this inspection.

The Village Medical Centre (the main practice)

45 Mercian Way

Cippenham

Slough

SL1 5ND

The Sussex Place Surgery (the branch practice)

18 Sussex Place

Slough

SL1 1NR

The practice has opted out of providing out of hours services to their patients. There are arrangements in place for services to be provided when the practice is closed and these are displayed at the practice, in the practice information leaflet and on the patient website. Out of hours services are provided during protected learning time and 30 minutes before opening between 8am and 8:30am (this out of hours service was managed internally by the practice by using their internal on call mobile protocol) and 30 minutes after closing time between 6pm and 6:30pm (this out of hours service was managed by East Berkshire out of hours services by diverting telephone calls to a duty GP) Monday to Friday by the practice internal on call duty arrangements or after 6:30pm, weekends and bank holidays by calling 111.

Updated 4 July 2017

Letter from the Chief Inspector of General Practice

Our previous focused inspection at The Village Medical Centre on 26 October 2016 found breaches of regulations relating to the responsive and well-led delivery of services. The overall rating for the practice was requires improvement. Specifically, we found the practice to require improvement for provision of responsive and well led services. It was good for providing safe, effective and caring services. Consequently we rated all population groups as requires improvement. The previous inspection reports can be found by selecting the ‘all reports’ link for The Village Medical Centre on our website at www.cqc.org.uk.

This inspection was an announced focused inspection carried out on 14 June 2017 to confirm that the practice had carried out their plan to meet the legal requirements in relation to the breaches in regulations that we identified in our previous inspection on 26 October 2016. This report covers our findings in relation to those requirements and improvements made since our last inspection.

We found the practice had made improvements since our last inspection. At our inspection on the 14 June 2017 we found the practice was meeting the regulations that had previously been breached. We have amended 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. Overall the practice is now rated as good. Consequently we have rated all population groups as good.

Our key findings were as follows:

• The practice had demonstrated improvement in monitoring the appointments booking system.
• The practice had installed a new telephone system, routinely monitored telephone calls data and carried out an internal telephone satisfaction survey to find out whether patients were satisfied with their access to care and treatment.
• All staff and patients we spoke with on the day of inspection informed us they had noticed significant improvements.
• The practice had taken steps to develop a patient participation group (PPG). However, this work was still in progress and future meeting dates were planned.
• Extended hours details were advertised in the premises and on the practice website.
• The practice had taken steps to identify carers to enable them to access the support available via the practice and external agencies. The practice had redesigned new patient questionnaire to identify new carers at the time of new registrations. Written information was available for carers to ensure they understood the various avenues of support available to them. However, the practice register of patients remained similar to the previous inspection with no real increase.

In addition the provider should:

• Review the process of identifying carers to enable them to access the support available via the practice and external agencies.

Professor Steve Field (CBE FRCP FFPH FRCGP) 

Chief Inspector of General Practice

Updated 4 July 2017

The provider had resolved the concerns for responsive and well-led identified at our inspection on 26 October 2016 which applied to everyone using this practice, including this population group. The population group ratings have been updated to reflect this.

Updated 4 July 2017

The provider had resolved the concerns for responsive and well-led identified at our inspection on 26 October 2016 which applied to everyone using this practice, including this population group. The population group ratings have been updated to reflect this.

Updated 4 July 2017

The provider had resolved all the concerns for responsive and well-led identified at our inspection on 26 October 2016 which applied to everyone using this practice, including this population group. The population group ratings have been updated to reflect this.

Updated 4 July 2017

The provider had resolved the concerns for responsive and well-led identified at our inspection on 26 October 2016 which applied to everyone using this practice, including this population group. The population group ratings have been updated to reflect this.

Updated 4 July 2017

The provider had resolved the concerns for responsive and well-led identified at our inspection on 26 October 2016 which applied to everyone using this practice, including this population group. The population group ratings have been updated to reflect this.

Updated 4 July 2017

The provider had resolved the concerns for responsive and well-led identified at our inspection on 26 October 2016 which applied to everyone using this practice, including this population group. The population group ratings have been updated to reflect this.