We carried out a review of the data available to us about Thornhills Medical Practice on 6 July 2023. We have not found evidence that we need to carry out an inspection or reassess our rating at this stage.
This could change at any time if we receive new information. We will continue to monitor data about this service.
If you have concerns about Thornhills Medical Practice, you can give feedback on this service.
We carried out an announced comprehensive inspection at Thornhills Medical Practice on 14 December 2016. Overall the practice is rated as good.
Our key findings across all the areas we inspected were as follows:
We saw one area of outstanding practice:
Thornhills Medical Practice was the biggest provider of Skilled Primary Care Surgery in West Kent. The practice accepted referrals from all West Kent practices and were the sole provider of this service for many of them. The practice had six GP’s who were accredited and performed Skilled Primary Care Surgery. Of these, four were qualified skin cancer surgeons and two performed carpal tunnel decompression surgery. On average there were seven minor surgery operating lists carried out each week. Staff told us that patients had said they liked the service because it offered short waiting times, easy access, a friendly and efficient service and there was good communication with the patients’ own GP.
The areas where the provider should make improvement are:
Keep the appointment system under review in order to meet patient demand for the various types of clinical appointments.
Ensure that written risk assessments regarding all substances that are hazardous to health are in place to aid the effective management of the related risks.
Ensure the on-going implementation of the infection prevention and control programme and keep related records readily available.
Continue to improve patient outcomes for those with long term conditions.
Ensure that carers are identified and supported appropriately.
Chief Inspector of General Practice
Thornhills Medical Practice provides primary medical services Monday to Fridays for patients in the Aylesford and surrounding areas in Kent. The practice has nine general practitioners (GPs), seven of whom form the partnership management team. The senior partner is the registered provider of services at the practice.
We spoke with patients during our inspection and over the phone the following day. They were all complimentary about the services they had received from the practice. No completed comment cards were received during our inspection but following our inspection two completed comment cards were sent to us. Patients we spoke with expressed a high level of satisfaction with the practice and the staff. We also met with three members of the Patient Reference Group (PRG), who emphasised the support, engagement and good working relationship the group had with the GP partners and staff at the practice. Staff we spoke with told us that the management were very open and approachable.
We found the practice was well-led and provided caring, effective and responsive services to a wide range of patient groups.