The Willows Medical Practice

Updated 14 November 2023

The Willows Medical Practice is in Chigwell, Essex. It is a part of the wider North East London Health and Care Partnership. The Willows Medical Practice holds a General Medical Service (GMS) contract with NHS England. It is located within a residential area with good transport links.

Information published by the UK Health Security Agency shows that deprivation within the practice population group is the middle decile (five of 10). 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 71% White, 8% Black, 15% Asian, 5% Mixed, and 1% Other.

The age distribution of the practice population closely mirrors the local and national averages. There are slightly more male patients registered at the practice compared to females. There is a large population of working age adults registered with the practice.

The practice is registered with the Care Quality Commission to carry on the regulated activities of treatment of disease, disorder or injury, diagnostic and screening procedures, maternity and midwifery services and surgical procedures.

The practice team included four GP partners (two male and two female), one advance nurse practitioner, two practice nurses, four primary care network pharmacists, two pharmacy technicians and one healthcare assistant. The non-clinical team included a practice manager, a business manager supported by a team of administrative/reception staff.

The practice is open between 8am to 6.30pm Monday to Friday. The practice advises patients that it offers a range of appointment types including telephone and face-to-face consultations. Advance face-to-face appointments are pre-bookable and uses e-consult for patients to contact the practice about medical conditions.

Extended access is provided locally by Healthbridge Direct, where late evening and weekend appointments are available.

Updated 14 November 2023

We carried out an announced responsive focused inspection at The Willows Medical Practice on 14 June 2023. Our focused inspection looked at the key questions of Safe and Well-led. Overall, the practice is now rated as requires improvement. At this inspection dated 14 June 2023 we rated the key questions of safe and well-led as follows:-

Safe - Requires improvement

Well-Led – Requires improvement

Following our previous focused inspection held on 20 July 2022, the practice was rated good overall except for key question responsive which was rated as requires improvement.

The full reports for previous inspections can be found by selecting the ‘all reports’ link for The Willows Medical Practice on our website at www.cqc.org.uk

Why we carried out this inspection.

We carried out this focused inspection on 14 June 2023 to follow up on concerns reported to the Commission relating to the provision of care and governance management at this location.

How we carried out the inspection

This inspection was carried out in a way which enabled us to spend a minimum amount of time on site.

This included:

• Requesting evidence from the provider in advance of our site visit
• A site visit.

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 found that:

• The practice had established systems and processes that kept patients safe and protected them from avoidable harm, but these were not always implemented.
• Patients received care and treatment that met their needs.
• Not all staff had the skills and knowledge to carry out their role effectively.
• The practice had a system in place to manage and mitigate risk relating to the practice.
• There was a system and process to learn and improve from incidents/events that occurred at the practice.
• Supervision of staff undertaking clinical duties was not evident.

We found one breach of regulations. The provider must:

• Ensure that care and treatment is provided in a safe way.

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

Dr Sean O’Kelly BSc MB ChB MSc DCH FRCA

Chief Inspector of Health Care