The Care Quality Commission
  • Doctor
  • GP practice

Wentworth Medical Practice

Overall: Good read more about inspection ratings

38 Wentworth Avenue, Finchley, London, N3 1YL (020) 8346 1242

Provided and run by:
Wentworth Medical Practice

All Inspections

18 January 2023

During an inspection looking at part of the service

We carried out a targeted assessment of Wentworth Medical Practice on 18 January 2024 without a site visit. Overall, the practice is rated as good. We rated the key question of responsive as requires improvement.

Safe -good (carried over from the previous inspection)

Effective – good (carried over from the previous inspection)

Caring - good (carried over from the previous inspection)

Responsive – requires improvement

Well led – good (carried over from the previous inspection)

Following our previous inspection in November 2022, the practice was rated good for safe, effective, good and well led and requires improvement for responsive. 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 Wentworth Medical Practice on our website at www.cqc.org.uk

Why we carried out this inspection

We carried out this inspection as part of our GP responsive assessment

  • Responsive question inspected

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 had decreased patient satisfaction for telephone access in the national GP patient survey since 2018 and was below local and national averages.
  • The provider responded to patient feedback about telephone answering with the introduction of a new phone system. This had reduced telephony waiting times.
  • Services were tailored to meet the needs of individual people and were delivered in a way to ensure continuity of care.
  • We found that patients individual needs and preferences were central to the delivery of services.
  • Patients could access care and treatment in a timely way and appointments were 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

22 August 2022

During an inspection looking at part of the service

We carried out an announced comprehensive at Wentworth Medical Practice 22 August 2022. Overall, the practice is rated as good.

Safe - Good

Effective - Good

Caring - Good

Responsive – Requires Improvement

Well-led - Good

Following our previous inspection on 17Octoer 2017, the practice was rated Good overall and for all key questions.

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

Why we carried out this inspection

We carried out this inspection in response to risk specifically regarding child immunisation rates, cervical screening uptake rates and regarding low levels of patient satisfaction on phone access.

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 and on site.
  • 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:

  • Leaders were aware of low patient satisfaction regarding phone access. They outlined a range of improvement activity including recent introduction of a clinician led appointment triage system. We noted initial patient feedback had been positive.
  • Leaders were aware of the practice’s performance on cervical screening uptake. A range of interventions had been introduced and unverified practice data indicated a significant performance improvement.
  • When something went wrong, there was an appropriate review involving all relevant staff and people who used the service.
  • There was a strong focus on continuous learning and improvement at all levels of the organisation. For example, we saw evidence that learning points from complaints and significant incidents had been discussed and used to improve the service. Clinical audit was also used to drive improvements in health outcomes.
  • Practice management arrangements supported the delivery of high-quality and person-centred care.

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

  • Continue to monitor and take action to improve cervical screening and child immunisation uptake rates.
  • Continue to monitor and take action to improve patient satisfaction regarding phone and appointments access.

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

17 October 2017

During a routine inspection

Letter from the Chief Inspector of General Practice

We carried out an announced comprehensive inspection at Wentworth Medical Practice on 17 October 2017. Overall the practice is rated as good.

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

  • There was an open and transparent approach to safety and a system in place for reporting and recording significant events.

  • Although overall, the practice had clearly defined and embedded systems to minimise risks to patient safety, we identified areas where administrative improvements could be made to the provider's cervical screening failsafe system.

  • Staff were aware of current evidence based guidance. Staff had been trained to provide them with the skills and knowledge to deliver effective care and treatment.
  • Results from the national GP patient survey showed patients were treated with compassion, dignity and respect.
  • Information about services and how to complain was available. Improvements were made to the quality of care as a result of complaints and concerns.

  • Results from the national GP patient survey (collected in July-September 2016 and January-March 2017) showed that patients’ satisfaction with how they could access care and treatment were generally below local and national averages. However, we noted that the practice had recently introduced changes to improve how people could access appointments and services in a way and at a time that suited them.

  • The practice had good facilities and was well equipped to treat patients and meet their needs.
  • There was a clear leadership structure and staff felt supported by the partner GPs. The practice proactively sought feedback from staff which it acted on.
  • The provider was aware of the requirements of the duty of candour.

The areas where the provider should make improvement are:

  • Review systems for identifying and providing support to carers.

  • Monitor recently introduced administrative improvements regarding how results are filed and regarding the overall cervical screening failsafe system.
  • Monitor patients’ satisfaction on recent improvements to how they can access appointments.

  • Monitor patients’ satisfaction on their involvement in planning and making decisions about their care and treatment.

  • Monitor recently introduced changes designed to improve how prescriptions used at the surgery and on home visits are logged.

Professor Steve Field CBE FRCP FFPH FRCGP 

Chief Inspector of General Practice

15 and 16 October 2014

During a routine inspection

Letter from the Chief Inspector of General Practice

We carried out a comprehensive inspection of the Wentworth Medical Practice on 15 and 16 October 2014. We rated the practice as ‘good’ for the service being safe, caring, responsive and well led. We rated the practice as 'required improvement' for the service being effective. We rated the practice as ‘good’ for care provided to older people, people with long term conditions, families, children and young people, working age people (including those recently retired and students), people whose circumstances may make them vulnerable and those people experiencing poor mental health (including people with dementia).

We gave the practice an overall rating of ‘Good’.

Our key findings were as follows:

  • Patients said that they were happy with the service provided, that they were treated with respect and were fully involved in the treatment decision process.
  • Systems were in place to keep patients safe including incident reporting, safeguarding and infection control procedures.
  • Staff were appropriately qualified to deliver effective care and treatment in line with National Institute for Health care and Excellence (NICE) guidance.
  • The practice had an active Patient Participation Group (PPG) and proactively sought feedback from patients and used it to make improvements to services provided.
  • The practice was working towards its clear vision to provide more services and to become integrated with local networks while working closely with other local practices.

However there were areas where the provider needs to make improvements.

The provider should:

  • Ensure that clinical audits are completed and the practice is able to demonstrate changes implemented and the impact on patients reviewed.
  • Ensure that all patients on the practice mental health register have an agreed care plan and annual health check and review.
  • Ensure there is a written document of employment references on each employee file.

Professor Steve Field (CBE FRCP FFPH FRCGP) 

Chief Inspector of General Practice