Kings Road Medical Centre

Background to this inspection

Updated 4 October 2017

Kings Road Medical Centre is based at 204 Kings Road, Harrow, HA2 9JJ. The practice provides primary medical services through a General Medical Services (GMS) contract to approximately 7,200 patients living in the London Boroughs of Harrow and Hillingdon (GMS is one of the three contracting routes that have been available to enable the commissioning of primary medical services). Kings Road Medical Centre consists of the main surgery and a branch surgery located at 81 Field End Road, Eastcote, HA5 1TD. The main and branch surgeries share a patient list and are separated by approximately a nine minute drive or a 25 minute commute on public transport. The practice is part of the NHS Harrow Clinical Commissioning Group (CCG).

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

Patients registered at the practice are from a number of different ethnic backgrounds and a significant proportion of the patients speak English as a second language. There is a higher than average number of people 35-54 years of age and older people over 70 years old registered with the practice. There is also a higher than average number of children and young people 5-19 years of age. Life expectancy is 82 years for males and 86 years for females which is above national average. The local area is the ninth less deprived in the London Borough of Harrow (people living in more deprived areas tend to have greater need for health services).

The practice team consists of two male GP partners, one female GP partner, a female salaried GP and a regular locum GP (26 clinical sessions in total), two practice nurses, two healthcare assistants and a practice manager supported by an assistant manager and a large team of reception / administrative staff. Sessions at the branch surgery are covered by GPs on a rota basis. The practice also employs two enhanced practice nurses and a diabetes specialist nurse.

Opening hours at the main surgery are 8:00am to 6:30pm weekdays with the exception of Thursday when the surgery closes at 12:30pm. Extended hours are available on Mondays at the main surgery from 6:30pm to 8:30pm. The branch surgery opening hours are 9:00am to 6:30pm weekdays with the exception of Wednesday when the surgery closes at 12:00pm. Telephone access is available from 8:00am at the main surgery and from 9:00am at the branch surgery. Calls for the branch surgery between 8:00am and 9:00am are redirected to the main surgery. Home visits are provided for patients who are housebound and the doctors and nurses provide advice over the telephone to patients who have made that request via the reception team. The practice has opted out of providing out of hours (OOH) services to their own patients and refers patients to the NHS 111 service for healthcare advice when the surgery is closed.

The practice provides a range of services including child development checks, children’s immunisations, adult immunisations, travel advice, maternity care, family planning, cervical smears and healthy lifestyle advice. In addition to services provided through the GMS contract the practice offers Spirometry, Electrocardiogram (ECG), Insulin initiation and complex wound management.

Overall inspection

Good

Updated 4 October 2017

Letter from the Chief Inspector of General Practice

We carried out an announced comprehensive inspection at Kings Road Medical Centre on 20 September 2016. The overall rating for the practice was requires improvement. The full comprehensive report on the September 2016 inspection can be found by selecting the ‘all reports’ link for Kings Road Medical Centre on our website at www.cqc.org.uk.

This inspection was an announced focused inspection carried out on 31 August 2017 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 20 September 2016. 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.

Our key findings were as follows:

The practice had made improvements in respect of the arrangements in place to manage fire safety.
Patients’ medical records were stored securely and confidentially.
Plans were in place to upgrade the branch practice.
Data from the Quality and Outcomes Framework showed patient outcomes had improved since our previous inspection.
Childhood immunisation rates had improved since our previous inspection.
The practice had drawn up an action plan to improve patient satisfaction with access.

The areas of practice where the provider needs to make further improvements are:

The provider should:

Continue to improve childhood immunisation rates to bring them in line with local and national averages.
Continue to monitor and act on feedback from patients.

Professor Steve Field (CBE FRCP FFPH FRCGP)

Chief Inspector of General Practice