This practice is rated as Good overall. (Previous rating April 2015 – Good)

The key questions at this inspection are rated as:

Are services safe? – Good

Are services effective? – Good

Are services caring? – Good

Are services responsive? – Good

Are services well-led? – Requires Improvement

We carried out an announced comprehensive inspection at Emersons Green Medical Centre on 5 December 2018 as part of our inspection programme.

At this inspection we found:

• There had been a significant change in the leadership at the practice since April 2017. The practice had recognised that sustainability and succession planning were needed to ensure the continued safe running of the practice. To facilitate this, they had recently merged with a local practice so that running costs, some administrative work and clinical teams could be used across the organisation and ensure the continued level of service provision. This had involved a complete restructuring process which was on-going at the time of the inspection.
• We found that the practice had established policies, procedures and activities to ensure safety but did not always have systems in place to monitor and assure themselves that they were operating as intended. For example, the processes for incidents and complaints were not always followed by staff.
• Staff treated patients with compassion, kindness, dignity and respect; feedback from patients supported these comments.
• Patients feedback through the national GP patient survey (2018) indicated that they experienced delays in being able to access routine care when they needed it.
• The provider had been responsive to the national GP patient survey (2017) and had introduced an urgent care team so that any patient contacting the practice for an urgent appointment had a telephone consultation with a clinician who then directed them to the most appropriate care.
• There was a focus on continuous learning and improvement within the organisation

The areas where the provider must make improvements are:

• Establish effective systems and processes to ensure good governance in accordance with the fundamental standards of care.

The areas where the provider should make improvements are;

• Risk assess appointment availability to reduce waiting times for routine appointments.
• Continue to monitor and improve the uptake of cancer screening for disease prevention.

Professor Steve Field CBE FRCP FFPH FRCGPChief Inspector of General Practice

Please refer to the detailed report and the evidence tables for further information.