Heston Practice

Updated 27 December 2021

Heston Practice is a GP practice located in the Heston area in West London at:

Heston Health Clinic

Cranford Lane

Hounslow

Middlesex

TW5 9ER

The practice has a branch surgery at:

The Great West Surgery

The Meadows Centre for Health

Chinchilla Drive

Hounslow

Middlesex

TW4 7NR

We visited the main practice during this inspection. We did not visit the branch practice as it was being used as a Covid hub.

The provider is registered with CQC to deliver the treatment of disease, disorder or injury Regulated Activity only and needs to update their registration to reflect the regulated activities they provide.

The practice offers services from both the main practice and a branch surgery. Patients can access services at either surgery.

The practice is situated within the North West Clinical Commissioning Group (CCG) and delivers Alternative Provider Medical Services (APMS) to a patient population of about 8,600. This is part of a contract held with NHS England.

The practice is part of the GWR Primary Care Network (PCN).

According to the latest available data collected in 2015 shows the patient population is ethnically diverse and 76% of the population is composed of patients with Asian, Black, mixed or other non-white backgrounds.

The practice population of patients aged between 0 to 18 years old is higher than the national average and there is a lower number of patients aged above 65 years old compared to the national average.

Information published by Public Health England shows that deprivation within the practice population group is in the fourth lowest decile (four of 10). The lower the decile, the more deprived the practice population is relative to others.

There is one salaried GP and four long term locum GPs. Three GPs are female and two are male. The practice employs a practice nurse, a clinical pharmacist, a health care assistant and a phlebotomist. The partners are supported by the operations manager, a business manager, a support manager and a team of administrative and reception staff.

Due to the enhanced infection prevention and control measures put in place since the pandemic and in line with the national guidance, most GP appointments were telephone consultations. If the GP needs to see a patient face-to-face then the patient is offered a choice of either the main GP location or the branch surgery.

Extended access is provided at local hubs, where late evening and weekend appointments are available. Out of hours services are provided by Practice Group.

Updated 27 December 2021

We carried out an announced inspection at Heston Practice on 22, 23 and 24 November 2021. Overall, the practice is rated as Good.

Set out the ratings for each key question

Safe - Good

Effective - Good

Caring - Good

Responsive - Good

Well-led - Good

Following our previous inspection on 30 August 2019 the practice was rated Good overall and for all key questions but requires improvement for providing effective services without a regulatory breach:

The full reports for previous inspections can be found by selecting the ‘all reports’ link for Heston Practice on our website at www.cqc.org.uk

Why we carried out this inspection

This was a comprehensive inspection. At this inspection we covered all key questions:

• Are services safe?
• Are services effective?
• Are services caring?
• Are services responsive?
• Are services well-led?

How we carried out the inspection

Throughout the pandemic CQC has continued to regulate and respond to risk. However, taking into account the circumstances arising as a result of the pandemic, and in order to reduce risk, we have conducted our inspections differently.

This inspection was carried out in a way which enabled us to spend a minimum amount of time on site. This was with consent from the provider and in line with all data protection and information governance requirements.

This included:

• Conducting staff interviews using video conferencing
• Completing clinical searches on the practice’s patient records system and discussing findings with the provider
• Reviewing patient records to identify issues and clarify actions taken by the provider
• Requesting evidence from the provider
• A short site visit

Our findings

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 have rated this practice as Good overall.

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 adjusted how it delivered services to meet the needs of patients during the Covid-19 pandemic. 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-centre care.
• Information about services and how to complain was available.

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

• Improve the monitoring of patients’ medicines, in particular medicines prescribed to treat thyroid hormone deficiency.
• Continue to monitor, encourage and improve cervical and bowel cancer screening and childhood immunisation uptake.
• Improve record keeping of staff files.
• Review the governance arrangements to ensure effective monitoring of blank prescription forms and repeat prescription process.
• Take necessary steps to ensure staff are clear about their responsibilities to report cases of Female Genital Mutilation (FGM).

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