Letter from the Chief Inspector of General Practice

The Surgery – 82 Lillie Road provides primary medical services to approximately 7,500 patients in Fulham, in the London borough of Hammersmith and Fulham. This is the only location operated by this provider.

We visited the practice on 3rd October 2014 and carried out a comprehensive inspection of the services provided.

We rated the practice as 'Outstanding‘ in the responsive domain and Good’ in the other four domains we inspected - safe, effective, caring, and well-led. We also rated them ‘Good’ for the care provided to all six population groups we looked at including older people, people with long-term conditions, families, children and young people, working age people (including those recently retired and students), people living in vulnerable circumstances and people experiencing poor mental health (including people with dementia)

Our key findings were as follows:

• Arrangements were in place to ensure patients were kept safe. The practice learnt when things went wrong and shared learning with all staff to minimise the risk of reoccurrence
• Patients’ needs were suitably assessed and care and treatment was delivered in line with current legislation and best practice.
• We saw from our observations and heard from patients that they were treated with dignity and respect.
• The practice understood the needs of their patients and was provided services that met their needs.
• The practice was well-led, had a defined leadership structure and staff felt supported in their roles.
• Pre-bookable Saturday morning appointments were available for patients who may have difficulty attending during weekday opening hours
• GP’s at the practice attend the local Multi-Agency Safeguarding Hub (MASH) to improve the safeguarding response for children and vulnerable adults through better information sharing and timely safeguarding responses

We saw areas of outstanding practice including:

• The practice was open from 7 .00am to 7.30pm Mondays and Thursday, 7.00am to 5.00pm on Fridays and from 8.30am to 11.30am on Saturdays.
• The practice had a community psychiatric nurse based there once a week to manage care plans of patients experiencing poor mental health including medication reviews.
• The practice facilitated patients’ access to the local Improving Access to Psychological Therapies (IAPT) programme and sign-posted patients to various support groups and organisations including MIND.

However, there were also areas of practice where the provider should make improvements:

• The practice should ensure that all staff who are required to chaperone patients receive the appropriate training.

• The practice should ensure that all non-clinical staff receives training in safeguarding adults.

Professor Steve Field (CBE FRCP FFPH FRCGP) 

Chief Inspector of General Practice