Letter from the Chief Inspector of General Practice
We carried out an announced comprehensive inspection at Little Venice Medical Centre on 1 December 2015 when the service was provided by Dr Thomas Barnwell. The overall rating for the practice was requires improvement. We undertook a follow-up announced comprehensive inspection on 19 September 2016 to consider if sufficient improvements had been made. At that inspection we found the practice to be inadequate and it was placed in special measures for a period of six months. The full comprehensive report on the 1 December 2015 and 19 September 2016 inspections can be found by selecting the ‘all reports’ link for Dr Thomas Barnwell on our website at www.cqc.org.uk.
The location was taken over by the Wellington Medical Centre partnership in December 2016. This inspection was an announced comprehensive inspection carried out on 11 January 2018 to review in detail the actions taken by the practice to improve the quality of care and to confirm that the practice was now meeting legal requirements. This report covers our findings in relation to those requirements and also additional improvements made since our last inspection. Overall the practice is now rated as Good.
The key questions are rated as:
Are services safe? – Requires Improvement
Are services effective? – Good
Are services caring? – Good
Are services responsive? – Good
Are services well-led? - Good
As part of our inspection process, we also look at the quality of care for specific population groups. The population groups are rated as:
Older People – Good
People with long-term conditions – Good
Families, children and young people – Good
Working age people (including those recently retired and students) – Good
People whose circumstances may make them vulnerable – Good
People experiencing poor mental health (including people with dementia) - Good
Our key findings were as follows:
-
Since our previous inspection, the location had been taken over by another provider. They had worked with stakeholders to address the issues identified at our previous inspection and made considerable improvements in respect of safeguarding, staff recruitment, medicine management and recording of significant events However, on the day of the inspection we found some additional issues relating to cleanliness and infection prevention and control.
-
The practice reviewed the effectiveness and appropriateness of the care it provided. It ensured that care and treatment was delivered according to evidence-based guidelines.
-
The practice had a comprehensive programme of quality improvement activity, including clinical audit.
-
Data showed patient outcomes for those with long-term conditions had improved since our previous inspection.
-
Staff had the skills, knowledge and experience to carry out their roles.
-
Staff involved and treated patients with compassion, kindness, dignity and respect.
-
Results of the national GP patient survey, comments cards we received and patients we spoke with showed patients felt they were treated with compassion, dignity and respect and were involved in decisions about their care and treatment.
-
Patients found the appointment system easy to use and reported that they were able to access care when they needed it.
-
The partnership had redefined its organisation structure, recruited essential personnel and assigned leads for key areas. It demonstrated that it had engaged with its commissioners and stakeholders to improve governance and bring about improvements to patient outcomes.
However, there were also areas of practice where the provider needs to make improvements.
Importantly, the provider must:
In addition the provider should:
I am taking this service out of special measures. This recognises the significant improvements made to the quality of care provided by the service.
Professor Steve Field CBE FRCP FFPH FRCGP
Chief Inspector of General Practice