Albion Health Centre

Updated 5 July 2017

Albion Health Centre is located in Tower Hamlets, east London. The practice is situated inside a grade two listed building owned by English Heritage, providing GP services to approximately 8,960 patients. Services are provided under a General Medical Services (GMS) contract with NHSE London and are part of the Tower Hamlets Clinical Commissioning Group (CCG). The practice is registered with the Care Quality Commission (CQC) to provide the regulated activities of maternity and midwifery services, treatment of disease, disorder or injury, surgical procedures and diagnostic and screening procedures.

The practice is staffed by four GP partners and one salaried GP. One of the GP partners was the chair of the Locality Commissioning Group. There are two male GPs and three female GPs. The GPs provide 40 sessions between Monday to Saturday. The practice employs one part time nurse independent prescriber, two part time practice nurses, two part time healthcare assistants and one phlebotomist. There are six reception staff, two administrative staff and one practice manager. The practice is an approved teaching practice, supporting undergraduate medical students, they currently have no students.

The practice was open between 8.00am and 6.30pm Monday to Friday, with the exception of Thursday when the practice is closed at 1.00pm. Appointments were from 9.00am to 12.00pm every morning and 3.00pm to 6.00pm daily. Extended hours appointments were offered between 9.00am and 1.00pm every Saturday. In addition to pre-bookable appointments that could be booked up to six weeks in advance, urgent appointments were also available for people that needed them. The out of ours service was provided by the local Hub, which was available Monday to Friday nights from 6.30pm to 8.00am and on the weekends from 6.30pm on Friday till 8.00am on Monday. All the details were available on the practice website.

The practice has a higher than national average population of people aged 20 to 40 years and a lower than average population of people aged 45 to 85 years and over. Approximately 30% of the practice population is between the ages of 20 to 40 years. Approximately 60% of the practice population are of Bangladeshi origin. Life expectancy for males was 73 years, which is lower than the CCG average of 77 years and less than the national average of 79 years. The female life expectancy in the practice is 82 years, which is the same as the CCG average and one year lower than the national average of 83 years.

Information published by Public Health England rates the level of deprivation within the practice population group as one on a scale of one to 10. Level one represents the highest levels of deprivation and level 10 the lowest.

Updated 5 July 2017

Letter from the Chief Inspector of General Practice

We carried out an announced comprehensive inspection at Albion Health Centre on 19 July 2016. The overall rating for the practice was good. The full comprehensive report on the 19 July 2016 inspection can be found by selecting the ‘all reports’ link for Albion Health Centre on our website at www.cqc.org.uk.

This inspection was a desk-based review carried out on 5 May 2017 to confirm that the practice had carried out their plan to meet the legal requirements in relation to the breaches in regulations that we identified in our previous inspection on 19 July 2016. There were concerns that the practice was not responsive to patient feedback on access and waiting times, systems to identify carers needed reviewing, staff did not receive regular appraisals and policies needed to be kept up to date with current guidelines. This report covers our findings in relation to those requirements and also additional improvements made since our last inspection.

Overall the practice is now rated as good.

Our key findings were as follows:

• In response to the patient survey results on access to services the practice was trialling a new appointment booking system.
• The practice had changed their telephone system to an internet based system which meant that patients who called to make appointments would be held in a cue rather than getting the engaged tone.
• The practice increased the number of telephone consultations available.
• They had also introduced web based consultations and online appointment booking.
• The practice enquired about carer status in their NHS health checks and chronic diseases/integrated care reviews and then coded the relevant status when the information had been provided opportunistically. The practice had identified 29% of their patient list as a carer. They advise patients that are carers about local resources and the carer’s website and also refer to their local network social prescriber who is attached to our practice one day a week.
• Appraisals had been completed for all staff in the last year, the practice were in the middle of this year’s appraisals at the time of inspection.
• The child safeguarding policy was up to date.
• The infection control protocol and policy were both up to date.
• Blank prescription forms and pads were securely stored and there was a system in place to record their numbers to monitor their use.

At this inspection we found that there had been improvements in patient’s access to the services, the practice had taken on board patient’s feedback and implemented changes such as web based consultations, increased telephone consultations and online booking. Consequently, the practice is rated as good for providing responsive services.

Professor Steve Field (CBE FRCP FFPH FRCGP) 

Chief Inspector of General Practice

Updated 5 July 2017

The practice is rated as good for the care of people with long term conditions. As the practice was found to be providing good services overall, this did not affect the rating for the population groups we inspect against.

Updated 5 July 2017

The practice is rated as good for the care of families, children and young people. As the practice was found to be providing good services overall, this did not affect the rating for the population groups we inspect against.

Updated 5 July 2017

The practice is rated as good for the care of older people. As the practice was found to be providing good services overall, this did not affect the rating for the population groups we inspect against.

Updated 5 July 2017

The practice is rated as good for the care of working age people (including those recently retired and students). As the practice was found to be providing good services overall, this did not affect the rating for the population groups we inspect against.

Updated 5 July 2017

The practice is rated as good for the care of people experiencing poor mental health (including people with dementia). As the practice was found to be providing good services overall, this did not affect the rating for the population groups we inspect against.

Updated 5 July 2017

The practice is rated as good for the care of people whose circumstances may make them vulnerable. As the practice was found to be providing good services overall, this did not affect the rating for the population groups we inspect against.