Letter from the Chief Inspector of General Practice

We carried out an announced comprehensive inspection at Brent Area Medical Centre on 3 September 2015. Overall the practice is rated as good. Specifically, we found the practice to be outstanding for providing responsive services. The practice was good for providing safe; effective; caring and well-led services.

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, monitored, appropriately reviewed and addressed.
• Risks to patients were assessed and well managed.
• Patients’ needs were assessed and care was planned and delivered following best practice guidance. Staff had received training appropriate to their roles and any further training needs had been identified and planned. 
• 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.
• Patients said they found it easy to make an appointment with a named GP and that there was continuity of care, with urgent appointments available the same day.
• The practice had good facilities and was well equipped to treat patients and meet their needs.
• The practice supported the local population and actively engaged and challenged commissioners. For example, when the district nursing treatment room service was to be relocated.
• 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.

We saw areas of outstanding practice:

• The practice was proactive in identifying, recording and managing risks and concerns raised by the health care provided by other organisations. This included raising concerns with the Clinical Commissioning Group (CCG) in addition to required notifications; engaging and working with partner agencies to share action plans and lessons learnt.
• There were high levels of staff satisfaction and the practice worked to ensure staff were proud of the organisation. For example, setting up of a local practice nurse forum; results from a county survey of GP practices placed the practice in the top two practices where staff were enthusiastic and motivated about their roles.
• The practice used innovative and proactive methods to improve patient outcomes and working with other local providers to share best practice. For example, a weekly walking health group for patients; the setting up of a local support group , Village Agents, for socially isolated, excluded, vulnerable and lonely patients and securing funding for a ‘singing for the brain’ group.
• Practice staff actively engaged in providing patients with a high quality of care above the service expectations. For example, staff delivered patients prescriptions on their way home; GPs visited unwell or recently discharged patients at weekends.

However there was an area of practice where the provider should make improvements:

• The practice should consider the use of alerts on their record keeping system so that any new member or temporary members of staff were aware of any impacts on health management.

Professor Steve Field (CBE FRCP FFPH FRCGP) 

Chief Inspector of General Practice