The Care Quality Commission
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  • GP practice

Ritchie Street Group Practice

Overall: Good read more about inspection ratings

34 Ritchie Street, London, N1 0DG (020) 7837 1663

Provided and run by:
Ritchie Street Group Practice

All Inspections

During an assessment under our new approach

We carried out an announced assessment of one quality statement, equity of access, under the key question Responsive at Ritchie Street Group Practice on 26 January 2024. We carried out the assessment as part of our work to understand how practices are working to try to meet peoples demands for access and to better understand the experiences of people who use services and providers. The responsive key question remains rated as good. The service remains rated as good overall. We recognise the work that GP practices have been engaged in to continue to provide safe, quality care to the people they serve. We know staff are carrying this out whilst the demand for general practice remains exceptionally high, with more appointments being provided than ever. However, this challenging context, access to general practice remains a concern for people. Our strategy makes a commitment to deliver regulation driven by people’s needs and experiences of care. The assessment of the quality statement equity of access includes looking at what practices are doing innovatively to improve patient access to primary care and sharing this information to drive improvement. The leaders understood the challenges to patient access and responded to patient needs, the patient feedback from the GP survey was below or in line with or the national averages for 2022 and 2023. Physical premises and equipment are accessible. People were given support to overcome barriers to ensure equal access.

13 November 2019

During a routine inspection

We carried out an announced comprehensive inspection at Ritchie Street Group Practice (the practice) on 13 November 2019 as part of our inspection programme, following our annual review of the information available to us. The practice had last been inspected in February 2016, when we had rated it Good for all key questions and population groups. Our previous inspection report can be found by going to https://www.cqc.org.uk/location/1-583929825 and selecting the Reports tab.

At this inspection we have rated the practice as Good overall and in respect of the five key questions and six population groups.

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 provided care in a way that kept patients safe and protected them from avoidable harm.
  • Patients received effective care and treatment that met their needs.
  • Staff dealt with patients with kindness and respect and involved them in decisions about their care.
  • The practice organised and delivered services to meet patients’ needs. Patients could access care and treatment in a timely way.
  • The way the practice was led and managed promoted the delivery of high-quality, person-centred care.
  • Not all staff were up to date with mandatory training.

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

  • Continue to review the uptake of cervical screening and childhood immunisation rates and implement action to bring about and sustain improvement.
  • Review the processes for recording internal meetings and passing on relevant service information to staff.
  • Ensure that all staff are up to date with mandatory training requirements.

Details of our findings and the evidence supporting our ratings are set out in the evidence tables.

Dr Rosie Benneyworth BM BS BMedSci MRCGP

Chief Inspector of Primary Medical Services and Integrated Care

17 February 2016

During a routine inspection

Letter from the Chief Inspector of General Practice

We carried out an announced comprehensive inspection on 17 February 2016. 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 an effective system in place for reporting and recording significant events.
  • Risks to patients were assessed and well managed.
  • Staff assessed patients’ needs and delivered care in line with current evidence based guidance. Staff had the skills, knowledge and experience to deliver effective care and treatment.
  • Patients said they were treated with compassion, dignity and respect and they were involved in their care and decisions about their treatment.
  • Information about services and how to complain was available and easy to understand.
  • 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 management. The practice proactively sought feedback from staff and patients, which it acted on.
  • The provider was aware of and complied with the requirements of the Duty of Candour.
  • Patients said they were generally able to make an appointment. However, some were encountering problems accessing the service by telephone early in the morning.
  • The practice shares the premises with a walk-in service, which operates throughout the day, and some patients seemed confused over which service they were using.
  • There was an active patient participation group, but some ethnic minority groups were under-represented.

The areas where the practice should make improvement are -

  • Continue to monitor the appointments process and telephone system to identify where improvements may be made.
  • Provide patients with more information regarding the services available at the premises and who provides them.
  • Consolidate the practice’s governance policies and store them on the shared computer system as appropriate to ensure staff have easy access to them.
  • Continue with efforts to increase the numbers of ethnic minority patients involved with the patient participation group.

Professor Steve Field CBE FRCP FFPH FRCGP 

Chief Inspector of General Practice