The Care Quality Commission
  • Doctor
  • GP practice

Kings Road Medical Centre

Overall: Good read more about inspection ratings

Worlds End Health Centre, 529 Kings Road, London, SW10 0UD 0844 815 187

Provided and run by:
AT Medics Limited

All Inspections

1 December 2023

During a routine inspection

We carried out an announced comprehensive inspection) at Kings Road Medical Centre on 28 November 2023 – 1 December 2023. Overall, the practice is rated as good.

Safe - good

Effective - good

Caring - good

Responsive - good

Well-led - good

Following our previous inspection on 15 September 2015, the practice was rated outstanding overall and for the key questions of responsive and well-led.

At the last inspection we rated the practice as outstanding for providing responsive and well-led services) because:

  • The practice initiated positive service improvements for its patients that were over and above its contractual obligations.
  • It had a clear vision with quality and safety as its top priority, the strategy to deliver this vision had been produced with stakeholders and was regularly reviewed and discussed with staff. High standards were promoted and owned by all practice staff and teams worked together across all roles.

At this inspection, we found that those areas previously regarded as outstanding practice were now embedded throughout the majority of GP practices. While the provider had maintained this good practice, the threshold to achieve an outstanding rating had not been reached. The practice is therefore now rated good overall and in all key questions.

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

Why we carried out this inspection

We carried out this inspection in line with our inspection priorities.

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:

  • Conducting staff interviews using video conferencing.
  • Completing clinical searches on the practice’s patient records system (this was with consent from the provider and in line with all data protection and information governance requirements).
  • Reviewing patient records to identify issues and clarify actions taken by the provider.
  • Requesting evidence from the provider.
  • A short 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 provided care in a way that kept patients safe and protected them from avoidable harm.
  • There were adequate systems in place to assess, monitor and manage risks to patient safety.
  • Patients with long-term conditions and those who were prescribed high-risk drugs were monitored appropriately.
  • Patients received effective care and treatment that met their needs.
  • Staff dealt with patients with kindness and respect and involved them in decisions about their care. This was reflected in the 2023 National GP Patient Survey and from the feedback received from patients.
  • Patients could access care and treatment in a timely way. This was reflected in the 2023 National GP Patient Survey and most of the feedback received from the patients we spoke to.
  • The leadership, governance and culture were used to drive and improve the delivery of high-quality person-centred care.
  • There was evidence of continuous improvement and innovation.

We saw the following example of Outstanding practice:

  • We found the practice to have outstanding prescribing data as figures showed their prescribing data was lower than national and local averages and significantly lower in some areas.

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

  • Take steps to increase the uptake of childhood immunisations and cervical cancer screening within their practice population.

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

15 September 2015

During a routine inspection

Letter from the Chief Inspector of General Practice

We carried out an announced comprehensive inspection at 9.00am on 15 September 2015. Overall the practice is rated as outstanding.

Please note that when referring to information throughout this report, for example any reference to the Quality and Outcomes Framework data, this relates to the most recent information available to the CQC at that time.

Our key findings across all the areas we inspected were as follows:

  • Staff understood and fulfilled their responsibilities to raise concerns and report incidents and near misses. All opportunities for learning from internal and external incidents were maximised.
  • The practice used innovative and proactive methods to improve patient outcomes, working with other local providers to share best practice. For example, the practice had teamed up with a social enterprise to tackle immediate health and social issues affecting Muslim communities such as mental health.
  • Patients said they were treated with compassion, dignity and respect and they were involved in their care and decisions about their treatment. Information was provided to help patients understand the care available to them.
  • The practice worked closely with other organisations and with the local community in planning how services were provided to ensure that they meet people’s needs.
  • The practice implemented suggestions for improvements and made changes to the way it delivered services as a consequence of feedback from patients and from the Patient Participation Group (PPG).
  • The practice had good facilities and was well equipped to treat patients and meet their needs. Information about how to complain was available and easy to understand.
  • The practice had a clear vision which had quality and safety as its top priority. A business plan was in place, was monitored and regularly reviewed and discussed with all staff. High standards were promoted and owned by all practice staff with evidence of team working across all roles.

We saw several areas of outstanding practice including:

  • The practice had a daily ‘frontline’ GP who provided both telephone / email consultations, urgent prescriptions and a triage service. The practice said this provided expert care at the point of contact. This had reduced the need for patients to have an appointment with a GP.
  • The chief executive sent all staff a weekly ‘staff matters’ bulletin by email. This provided them with any information about the practice including clinical updates, staffing matters, training opportunities and any changes within the practice group.
  • The provider had developed two training packages. One for clinicians, which entailed fortnightly consultant-led training for GPs via webinars in a collaborative learning environment designed to enhance clinical knowledge and delivering excellent patient services and another for receptionists training as Healthcare Assistants (HCAs). The training was used by other local practices.
  • The practice had maximised their Quality and Outcomes Framework (QOF) performance over the previous six years and flu vaccination rates for over 65s and at risk groups were consistently above the Clinical Commissioning Group (CCG) for the previous five years.
  • The practice had teamed up with a social enterprise to tackle immediate health and social issues affecting Muslim communities such as mental health. They had co-produced a short film with patients, clinicians and faith groups called “Talking from the heart” exploring mental health diagnosis and therapy by combining medical and faith advice.

Professor Steve Field (CBE FRCP FFPH FRCGP) 

Chief Inspector of General Practice