Bedwell Medical Centre

Updated 4 March 2024

Bedwell Medical Centre is located in Stevenage, Hertfordshire at:

Sinfield Close

Bedwell Crescent

Stevenage

SG1 1LQ

The practice has a branch surgery at:

Roebuck Doctors Surgery

114 Broadwater Crescent

Bragbury End

Stevenage

SG2 8HW

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

The practice is situated within the Hertfordshire and West Essex Integrated Care System (ICS) and delivers General Medical Services (GMS) to a patient population of about 13,284. This is part of a contract held with NHS England.

The practice is part of a wider network of GP practices in Stevenage South Primary Care Network.

Information published by Office for Health Improvement and Disparities shows that deprivation within the practice population group is in the fifth lowest decile (5 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 area is 7.3% Asian, 83% White, 4.7% Black, 3.7% Mixed, and 1.3% Other.

The age distribution of the practice population closely mirrors the local and national averages. There are more working age patients than older and young patients.

There is a team of 7 GP partners who provide cover at both practices. The practices have a team of 3 nurses and 1 healthcare assistant who provide nurse-led clinics for long-term conditions of use of both the main and the branch locations. The GPs are supported at the practice by a team of 1 advanced care practitioner and a team of reception/administration staff. The practice manager provides managerial oversight.

The practice is open between 8.30 am to 6.30 pm Monday to Friday. The practice offers a range of appointment types including book on the day, telephone consultations and advance appointments.

Extended access is provided locally by Stevenage South primary care network, where late evening and weekend appointments are available. The practice also provides their own surgery based extended access appointments on Saturday mornings.

Out of hours services are provided by NHS 111.

Updated 4 March 2024

We carried out a targeted assessment of Bedwell Medical Centre on 18 December 2023 without a site visit. Overall, the practice is rated as good. We rated the key question of responsive as requires improvement.

Safe –good – carried forward from previous inspection

Effective – good – carried forward from previous inspection

Caring – good – carried forward from previous inspection

Responsive – requires improvement

Well led – good – carried forward from previous inspection

Following our previous inspection in April 2019, the practice was rated good for safe, effective, caring, responsive and well led. At this inspection, we rated the practice requires improvement for providing responsive services.

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

Why we carried out this inspection

We carried out this assessment as part of our work to understand how practices are working to try to meet demand for access and to better understand the experiences of people who use services and providers.

How we carried out the review

This assessment was carried out remotely. It did not include a site visit.

The process included:

• Conducting an interview with the provider and members of staff using video conferencing.
• Reviewing patient feedback from a range of sources
• Requesting evidence from the provider.
• Reviewing data we hold about the service
• Seeking information/feedback from relevant stakeholders

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:

• Patient satisfaction relating to telephone access was below local and national averages in the national GP patient survey since 2020.
• Services did not always meet the needs of individual people and were not always delivered in a way to ensure continuity of care.
• Patients could not always access care and treatment in a timely way and appointments were not always easily accessible in a way that suited a patient’s individual need.

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