Background to this inspection
Updated
13 November 2019
The Willow Tree Surgery is an NHS GP practice located in Hayes, Middlesex. The practice is registered with the Care Quality Commission to deliver the Regulated Activities: diagnostic and screening procedures; maternity and midwifery services; family planning; and treatment of disease, disorder or injury.
The Willow Tree Surgery is situated within Hillingdon Clinical Commissioning Group (CCG) and provides services to approximately 3,500 patients under the terms of a general medical services (GMS) contract. This is a contract between general practices and NHS England for delivering services to the local community.
The practice is led by a GP principal (female) who is supported by familiar locum GP (male), a practice nurse (female), a site manager (female), and five receptionists / administrators. The age range of patients is predominantly 15 to 64 years. The practice has a lower percentage of patients over 65 years (9%) when compared to the national average (17%).
The National General Practice Profile states that 33% of the practice population is from an Asian background with a further 25% of the population originating from black, mixed or other non-white ethnic groups. 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.
The Willow Tree Surgery is open between 8.00am and 6.30pm Monday to Friday. Extended hours appointments are available at a local Hub. Additional out of hours care is accessed by calling the NHS 111 service.
The practice had recently joined a partnership with four other practices in Hayes. Back office and support functions, such as finance and HR will be shared across the sites.
Updated
13 November 2019
We carried out an announced comprehensive inspection at The Willow Tree Surgery on 13 November 2018. The overall rating for the practice was requires improvement. The practice was rated good for providing safe, responsive and well-led care. We rated the practice as requires improvement for providing effective and cartng services. We rated all the population groups as good except for the families, children and young people group and the long-term conditions group which we rated as requires improvement as childhood immunisations uptake rates were below the 90% target and overall clinical exception was above local and national averages for many long-term conditions.
This inspection was an announced focused inspection carried out on 6 September 2019 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 13 November 2018. This report covers our findings in relation to those requirements and additional areas for improvement since our last inspection.
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 for effective and caring services and all population groups except Families, children and young people which is requires improvement as some childhood immunisation rates are below eighty percent.
We found that:
- The practice provided care in a way that kept patients safe and protected them from avoidable harm.
- Patients received effective care and treatment that met their needs. Ninety one percent of patients felt their needs were met during their last general practice appointment.
- Since our last inspection the practice had made changes to their processes and although some childhood immunisations remained marginally below England rates, the practices had made some improvements and their uptake rates were comparable to other practices in the CCG area.
- The practice had reviewed their exception reporting and found that historically exception reporting had been incorrect. Unverified data from the practice showed exception reporting for long-term conditions had significantly reduced.
- Staff dealt with patients with kindness and respect and involved them in decisions about their care. We found the practice had made some changes to clinical staff and how they were supported which was reflected in the improved GP survey results.
- The practice organised and delivered services to meet patients’ needs. Patients could access care and treatment in a timely way.
- The way the practice was led and managed promoted the delivery of high-quality, person-centre care.
Whilst we found no breaches of regulations, the provider should:
•Continue to implement processes to improve childhood immunisation uptake.
•Continue to review patients feedback to continue to improve their overall feedback.
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