John Smith Medical Centre

Background to this inspection

Updated 6 April 2017

John Smith Medical Centre is located in Barking, east London. The practice holds a Personal Medical Services (PMS) contract with NHS England. The practice is part of a chain of surgeries operated by Chilvers and McCrea Limited.

The GP team comprises one principal male GP, one part time female GP and one locum GP. A practice nurse and a healthcare assistant are part of the clinical team. The practice is led by a practice manager who is supported by four receptionists and administrators.

The practice is open between 8.30am and 7pm Monday to Friday and offers appointments from 9.30am to 12.30pm Monday to Friday and between 4.30pm and 7pm on Monday, Tuesday and Friday. Extended hours are available on a Wednesday until 8pm. Outside of these times patients are directed to the NHS 111 service or to an out of hours primary care walk-in centre at a nearby hospital. In addition to pre-bookable appointments, urgent appointments and home visits are also available for people that need them. The practice has level access from the street and car park to all clinical areas and includes an accessible toilet, baby changing and breast feeding facilities.

The practice has a patient list of 2824. Approximately 4% of patients are aged 75 or older and approximately 31% are under 18 years old. Fifty one percent have a long standing health condition and 17% have carer responsibilities. The practice is in an area with high levels of socioeconomic deprivation.

Overall inspection

Good

Updated 6 April 2017

Letter from the Chief Inspector of General Practice

We carried out an announced comprehensive inspection at John Smith Medical Centre on 7 May 2015. The overall rating for the practice was good, with a requires improvement rating for the effective key question. The full comprehensive report can be found by selecting the ‘all reports’ link for John Smith Medical Centre on our website at www.cqc.org.uk.

This inspection was an announced focused inspection carried out on 21 December 2016 to confirm the practice had carried out their plan to address the areas we identified as requiring improvement in our previous inspection. This report covers our findings in relation to those requirements and also additional improvements made since our last inspection.

Overall the practice is still rated as good.

Our key findings were as follows:

The practice had implemented a system to track clinical letters and results, however they were received, to ensure they were acted upon.
The practice demonstrated learning from significant events including a process to learn from other practices in the provider’s cluster group.
Staff demonstrated understanding of the local challenges in encouraging parents to agree to immunisations for their children and had put initiatives in place to address this.
Clinical audits were embedded in the practice’s quality assurance and clinical improvement systems.
A patient engagement specialist had visited the practice and a series of patient drop-in sessions had been arranged to encourage patients and their relatives to contribute to the development of the practice.

All of the areas for improvement had been addressed.

Professor Steve Field (CBE FRCP FFPH FRCGP)

Chief Inspector of General Practice