Letter from the Chief Inspector of General Practice

Following a comprehensive inspection of the Stanmore Medical Centre in February 2015, the practice was given an overall inadequate rating and a decision was made to place the practice in special measures. Specifically, we found the practice to be inadequate for providing safe and well led services, requires improvement for providing effective services and good for providing caring and responsive services. It was also rated as inadequate for all the population groups.

We carried out a second comprehensive inspection at the Stanmore Medical Centre on 29 September 2015, to consider whether sufficient improvements had been made to bring the practice out of special measures. At the inspection we found sufficient improvements had been made, however the systems in place for mitigating risks in relation to the health and safety of service users were still not sufficiently robust. Overall the practice was rated as requires improvement.

We then carried out a third comprehensive inspection on 6 December 2016 to assess if the necessary improvements had been made since our previous inspection. At this inspection we found that the necessary improvements had been made and 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 been trained to provide them with 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. Improvements were made to the quality of care as a result of complaints and concerns.
• Patients did not always find it easy to make an appointment with a named GP however continuity of care had improved since our last inspection, with urgent appointments available the same day.
• 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.

• The practice demonstrated a strong ethos of advocating for their patients which was exemplified by over 30 case reviews presented to us at our inspection. The case reviews were examples of exceptional care provided in managing and supporting vulnerable patients. These included patients experiencing poor mental health, patients with learning disabilities and those receiving treatment for substance misuse.

The areas where the provider should make improvement are:

• Continue to improve childhood immunisation and cervical screening uptake to bring in line with national averages.
• Continue to improve patient satisfaction with access to care and treatment.

Professor Steve Field CBE FRCP FFPH FRCGP 

Chief Inspector of General Practice

Letter from the Chief Inspector of General Practice

Following a comprehensive inspection of the Stanmore Medical Centre in February 2015, the practice was given an overall inadequate rating and a decision was made to place the practice in special measures.

We carried out an announced comprehensive inspection at the Stanmore Medical Centre on 29 September 2015, to consider whether sufficient improvements had been made. Overall the practice is rated as requires improvement.

Specifically, we found the practice to require improvement for providing safe, responsive and well led services and good for providing effective and caring services. It was also rated as requires improvement for all the population groups.

Our key findings across all the areas we inspected were as follows:

• Staff understood and fulfilled their responsibilities to raise concerns, and to report incidents and near misses. Information about safety was recorded, however reviews and investigations were not always thorough enough to support improvement.
• Risks to patients were assessed and well managed, with the exception of those relating to vaccine fridge temperature monitoring and health and safety.
• Data showed patient outcomes were comparable to others in the locality. Clinical audit had been carried out, and we saw evidence that audits were driving improvement in performance to improve patient outcomes.
• Patients said they were treated with compassion, dignity and respect and they were involved in their care and decisions about their treatment although national GP survey data showed the practice was below average in this regard.
• Information about services and how to complain was available and easy to understand.

• Urgent appointments were usually available on the day they were requested. However patients said that they sometimes had to wait a long time for non-urgent appointments and found it difficult to get through on the phone.
• The practice had a number of policies and procedures to govern activity. Most of these had been reviewed annually however the practice’s policy for the management of significant events was in need of review.
• The practice had proactively sought feedback from staff or patients.

The areas where the provider must make improvements are:

• Ensure more effective arrangements are in place for managing risks and implementing mitigating actions; including those for monitoring risks associated with legionella bacteria, infection control, inappropriate vaccine storage and general health and safety.
• Review policy and procedures for managing incidents / significant events.

In addition the provider should:

• Improve patient satisfaction in relation to those areas identified by the national GP survey to be below local / national averages such as access to the service.

I am pleased that this practice has made significant improvements to the care that it is providing for its patients but there is still more work to be done. I am therefore taking this practice out of special measures and we will return to re-inspect within a year to ensure that the good progress has been maintained and that care has hopefully improved further.

Professor Steve Field (CBE FRCP FFPH FRCGP) 

Chief Inspector of General Practice

Letter from the Chief Inspector of General Practice

We carried out a comprehensive inspection of The Stanmore Medical Centre on 4 February 2015. We rated the practice as ‘inadequate’ for the service being safe, ‘requires improvement’ for the service being effective, ‘good’ for the service being caring and responsive to people’s needs and ‘inadequate’ for the service being well-led. We rated the practice as ‘inadequate’ for the care provided to 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).

We gave the practice an overall rating of ‘inadequate’

Our key findings across all the areas we inspected were as follows:

• Patients said staff were caring, considerate and helpful. They said staff treated them with dignity and respect.
• Patients said the GPs and nurses were good at explaining tests and treatment and involved them in decisions about their care and treatment.
• The needs of the local population were understood and the practice provided services to meet them.
• We found inadequate systems and processes to identify, assess and manage risk in relation to medicine management, infection control, security of medical records, recruitment and general health and safety.
• We found inadequate maintenance of the premises and equipment.

The areas where the provider needs to make improvements are;

Importantly, the provider must:

• Ensure the necessary pre-employment checks are completed on all staff.
• Ensure emergency medicines are obtained appropriately.
• Introduce effective systems to assess the risk of and to prevent, detect and control the spread of health care associated infections.
• Maintain appropriate standards of cleanliness and hygiene in relation to the premises.
• Introduce adequate systems and processes to manage and monitor risks to patients, staff and visitors to the practice in relation to health and safety.
• Ensure patients, staff and visitors are protected against the risks associated with unsafe or unsuitable premises by means of adequate maintenance of the premises and equipment.
• Ensure paper medical records are stored securely.
• Ensure systems are in place to provide reassurance that all safety alerts are acted on and in a timely manner.
• Share learning from incidents with all staff where appropriate.
• Provide staff with accredited training in safeguarding children and vulnerable adults.
• Update the business continuity plan and ensure it is accessible to staff.
• Ensure audit cycles are completed to demonstrate improved outcomes for patients

In addition the provider should:

• Ensure the oxygen cylinder is refilled and in working order.
• Carry out cervical screening audits in line with the Royal College of Nursing (RCN) guidance.
• Provide staff with training in mandatory topics and ensure training is monitored and records kept on site.
• Introduce job descriptions for staff which outline their roles and responsibilities.
• Provide staff with training in consent and the Mental Capacity Act 2005.
• Formulate a clear vision for the practice and a strategy to deliver it. Ensure staff know their responsibilities in relation to it.
• Ensure all key policies are in place to govern activity in the practice and accessible to staff.
• Formalise a clear leadership structure and ensure staff are aware of their level of responsibility.
• Introduce meetings to include the whole practice team.

On the basis of the ratings given to this practice at this inspection. I am placing the provider into special measures. This will be for a period of six months. We will inspect the practice again in six months to consider whether sufficient improvements have been made. If we find that the provider is still providing inadequate care we will take steps to cancel its registration with CQC.

Professor Steve Field (CBE FRCP FFPH FRCGP) 

Chief Inspector of General Practice