Sudbury and Alperton Medical Centre

Updated 14 September 2022

Sudbury and Alperton Medical Centre is located at:

267 Ealing Road

Wembley

Middlesex

HA0 1EU

The practice has a branch surgery at:

228 Watford Road

Harrow

Middlesex

HA1 3TY

We visited the Watford Road site as part of this inspection activity.

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

The practice offers services from both a main practice and a branch surgery. Patients can access services at either site.

The practice is situated within the borough of Brent and is part of the North West London Clinical Commissioning Group (CCG). The practice delivers General Medical Services (GMS) to a patient population of about 8,900. This is part of a contract held with NHS England.

The practice is part of a wider network of GP practices known as K&W West Primary Care Network.

Information published by Public Health England shows that deprivation within the practice population group is in the sixth decile (six of 10). The lower the decile, the more deprived the practice population is relative to others.

According to the latest available data, the ethnic make-up of the practice population is 53% Asian, 28% White, 11% Black, 3% Mixed, and 5% Other.

There is a leadership team of two GP partners and two non-clinical partners who provide cover at both practices. The GPs are supported at the practice by nine long-term GP locums, two practice nurses, a health care assistant, a prescribing pharmacist and a team of reception/administration staff. The practice also receives support from PCN staff (pharmacists and social prescribing link workers).

Extended access is provided locally at ‘hub’ locations where late evening and weekend appointments are available.

Updated 14 September 2022

We carried out an announced comprehensive inspection at Sudbury and Alperton Medical Centre on 21 June 2022. Overall, the practice is rated as Requires improvement.

Safe - Requires improvement

Effective - Good

Caring - Good

Responsive - Requires improvement

Well-led - Good

Following our inspection on 23 September 2021, the practice was rated inadequate overall and for the safe and well-led key questions and requires improvement for providing effective, caring and responsive services. The practice was placed in special measures and issued with warning notices in respect of Regulation 12 (Safe care and treatment) and Regulation 17 (Good governance).

A follow-up inspection was undertaken in February 2022, to review compliance with the warning notices that were issued following the September 2021 inspection. We found that the provider had taken action to address the breaches identified in the warning notices. The inspection was not rated.

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

Why we carried out this inspection

We carried out this inspection to follow up concerns from the inspection in September 2021. We looked at all five key questions.

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.
• information from the provider, patients, the public and other organisations.

We found that:

• The practice had made significant progress to address the concerns identified at our previous inspection.
• We identified new concerns in relation to infection prevention and control, and risk assessments of the premises.
• 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.
• Staff dealt with patients with kindness and respect and involved them in decisions about their care.
• People were not always able to access care and treatment in a timely way and this was reflected in the results from the National GP Patient Survey (2022).
• The practice had received support from external stakeholders to improve how the practice was managed and promote the delivery of high-quality, person-centred care.

We found a breach of the regulations. The provider must:

• Ensure care and treatment is provided in a safe way to patients.

The provider should:

• Take steps to ensure fridge temperatures can be measured in the event of electricity loss and in line with National guidance.
• Improve uptake rates for cervical cancer screening and childhood immunisations.
• Improve patient satisfaction with access to appointments and the service.

I am taking this service out of special measures. This recognises the improvements that have been made to the quality of care provided by this service.

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