Victoria Medical Centre

Updated 4 June 2018

The main surgery is located in the Victoria area of central London, and provides a general practice service to around 15,511 patients. The practice had a General Medical Services (GMS) contract with NHS England for delivering primary care services to the local community. The practice also operates a branch surgery at Lees Place which is located in Mayfair. We visited both sites during our inspection of 14 December 2017.

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

The practice is open six days a week from 8am-6pm Monday, Wednesday and Friday and provided extended hours from 8am to 8pm on Tuesday and Thursday. The practice is open from 9am to 1pm every Saturday for booked appointments only. An out of hours service with access to a duty doctor is used when the surgery is closed. Patients are directed to this service by the practice answer phone. The telephone number for the out of hours service is also available in the patient information leaflet and on the practice website.

The patient population groups served by the practice are diverse. The practice also serves patients from the local business community and government institutions. The practice is located in a mainly white British residential area with their branch surgery, Lees Place located in an affluent area of Mayfair.

The staff team at the practice comprises three GP partners (two female and one male), seven salaried GPs (five female and two male) and two locum GPs (one female and one male). There are six practice nurses including a lead practice nurse, an INR (warfarin therapy) lead nurse and a locum nurse. The nursing team is supported by a healthcare assistant and phlebotomist. The practice also employs an elderly care link worker as a member of the extended team.

The practice is a training practice. One registrar was undergoing GP training at the practice at the time of the inspection.

The practice manager is the lead for the day to day management of the practice and the clinical team are supported by a deputy practice manager, ten receptionists and three administrative staff.

Please note that when referring to information throughout this report, for example any reference to the Quality and Outcomes Framework data, this relates to the most recent information available to the CQC at that time.

Updated 4 June 2018

Letter from the Chief Inspector of General Practice

This practice is rated as Good overall. (Previous inspection December 2014 – Outstanding)

The key questions are rated as:

Are services safe? – Good

Are services effective? – Good

Are services caring? – Good

Are services responsive? – Good

Are services well-led? - Outstanding

As part of our inspection process, we also look at the quality of care for specific population groups. The population groups are rated as:

Older People – Outstanding

People with long-term conditions – Good

Families, children and young people – Good

Working age people (including those recently retired and students – Good

People whose circumstances may make them vulnerable – Good

People experiencing poor mental health (including people with dementia) - Good

We carried out an announced comprehensive at Victoria Medical Centre on 14 December 2017 as part of our inspection programme.

At this inspection we found:

• The practice had clear systems to manage risk so that safety incidents were less likely to happen. When incidents did happen, the practice learned from them and improved their processes.
• A proactive approach to anticipating and managing risks to people who use their services was embedded and was recognised as the responsibility of all staff.
• The practice routinely reviewed the effectiveness and appropriateness of the care it provided. It ensured that care and treatment was delivered according to evidence- based guidelines.
• The continuing development of the staff’s skills, competence and knowledge was recognised as being integral to ensuring high-quality care. Staff were proactively supported and encouraged to acquire new skills, use their transferable skills, and share best practice.
• Staff involved and treated patients with compassion, kindness, dignity and respect.
• The practice implemented suggestions for improvements and made changes to the way it delivered services as a consequence of feedback from patients and from the Patient Participation Group (PPG).
• Facilities and premises were innovative and met the needs of a range of people who used the service.
• The practice had a clear vision which had quality and safety as the top priorities. High standards were promoted and owned by all practice staff with evidence of team working across all roles.
• There was a strong focus on continuous learning and improvement at all levels of the organisation.
• At our previous inspection in December 2014, we reported that the practice had identified specific needs of some of their population groups; the elderly were socially isolated, younger women were not being given pre-conception health promotion and advice. The practice had continued to give priority to measures introduced previously. There were a range of initiatives showing the practice’s continuing responsive approach to their patients including the Atlas programme for improving the well-being of men; and the continued circulation across GP practices and the local hospital and its use throughout Central London CCG practices of an award winning leaflet designed by the practice given to women to provide information about preparing for pregnancy.

The areas where the provider should make improvements are:

• Review satisfaction scores from the national GP Patient survey alongside the results from the practice’s annual patient survey in formulating an action plan to address issues identified particularly those associated with access to services.

Professor Steve Field (CBE FRCP FFPH FRCGP) 

Chief Inspector of General Practice

Updated 4 June 2018

Updated 4 June 2018

Updated 4 June 2018

Updated 4 June 2018

Updated 4 June 2018

Updated 4 June 2018