HMC Health Bedfont

Updated 14 September 2022

HMC Health Bedfont is a GP practice located in the Feltham area in West London at:

Imperial Road,

Feltham,

TW14 8AG

We did not visit this location as part of this inspection activity.

The practice is located in portable cabins. The practice is fully accessible.

The provider is registered with CQC to deliver the Regulated Activities; diagnostic and screening procedures, maternity and midwifery services, family planning and treatment of disease, disorder or injury.

The practice is situated within the Hounslow Clinical Commissioning Group (CCG) and delivers Alternative Provider Medical Services (APMS) to a patient population of about 5,500. This is part of a contract held with NHS England.

The practice is part of the Feltham Primary Care Network (PCN).

The practice population of patients aged between 0 to 18 years old is higher than the national average and there is a lower number of patients aged above 65 years old compared to the national average.

Ethnicity based on demographics collected in the 2011 census shows the patient population is ethnically diverse and 35% of the population is composed of patients with an Asian, Black, mixed or other non-white backgrounds.

Information published by Public Health England, rates the level of deprivation within the practice population group as four, on a scale of one to ten. Level one represents the highest levels of deprivation and level ten the lowest.

There are three salaried GPs and a long-term locum GP. Two GPs are female and two male. The practice employs a practice nurse, a clinical pharmacist and a health care assistant (also a phlebotomist). The partners are supported by the operations manager, a business manager, a support manager and a team of administrative and reception staff.

Due to the enhanced infection prevention and control measures put in place 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 GP location or the branch surgery.

Extended access is provided at local hubs, where late evening and weekend appointments are available. Out of hours services are provided by Care UK.

Updated 14 September 2022

We carried out an announced focused review at HMC Health Bedfont on 13 July 2022. Overall, the practice is rated as Good.

Safe - Good.

Effective - Not inspected, rating of good carried forward from previous inspection.

Caring - Not inspected, rating of good carried forward from previous inspection.

Responsive - Not inspected, rating of good carried forward from previous inspection.

Well-led - Not inspected, rating of good carried forward from previous inspection.

Following our previous inspection in September 2021, the practice was rated good overall and for all key questions but requires improvement for providing safe services.

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

Why we carried out this review

This was a focused review of information without undertaking a site visit inspection to follow up on breaches of Regulation 12 Safe care and treatment. At the last inspection we found;

• The practice had a system in place to manage safety alerts but it did not work effectively as we found some safety alerts were not actioned as required to ensure the safe care and treatment of patients.

We also followed up on ‘should’ actions identified at the last inspection. Specifically;

• Take action to ensure the prescription box for uncollected prescriptions is monitored regularly and staff members understand their responsibilities to take appropriate steps as and when required.
• Continue to encourage and monitor cervical cancer screening and childhood immunisation uptake.
• Continue to make efforts to establish the patient participation group (PPG).

How we carried out the review

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 review was carried out without visiting the location by requesting documentary evidence from the provider.

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 made the necessary improvements to the delivery of care to ensure patients were kept safe.
• The practice had improved the system for recording and acting on safety alerts. The practice carried out regular audits to ensure that all current and future patients were reviewed accordingly. The practice had shared the recent clinical data which demonstrated improvements in patient outcomes.

In addition;

• The practice had implemented monthly uncollected repeat prescriptions checks. The practice informed us that they would contact the patients’ to check if they still required the medication or if a new prescription was issued.
• The practice had taken steps to improve childhood immunisation uptake. The practice had maintained a register and dedicated staff members who were part of the organisation recall team were contacting the parents or guardians of children and encouraging childhood immunisation uptake. The practice was carrying out weekly searches to monitor the performance. The practice had arrangements for following up on failed attendance of children’s appointments for immunisation.
• The practice had taken steps to encourage uptake. For example, there was a policy to offer telephone reminders and send text messages to patients who did not attend for their cervical screening test. All non-attendance was flagged on the patient’s record so that the clinicians opportunistically encouraged patients to make their appointments. The practice had shared recent Quality Outcomes Framework (QOF) results and informed us they had achieved 73% cervical cancer screening rates for patients aged 25-49 years and 85% screening rates for patients aged 50-64 years old.
• The practice informed us they had tried but were not successful in establishing the patient participation group (PPG). The practice had sent text messages and displayed posters in the waiting area encouraging patients to join the PPG. The practice was planning a patient engagement event in September 2022.

Whilst we found no breaches of regulations, the provider should:

• Continue to make efforts to establish the patient participation group (PPG).

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 Hospitals and Interim Chief Inspector of Primary Medical Services