We carried out an announced comprehensive inspection of Docklands Medical Centre on 6 February 2019 as part of our inspection programme.

At the previous inspection of Docklands Medical Centre on 20 November 2014 we rated the practice as good overall.

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 and good for all population groups.

We rated the practice as requires improvement for providing safe services because:

• We found incidents of unsafe prescribing of some high risk medicines and there were no prescribing protocols in place for some high risk medicines.

We rated the practice as good for providing effective, caring, responsive and well-led services because:

• The practice reviewed and monitored the effectiveness and appropriateness of the care and treatment it provided.
• Patient feedback about the practice was positive and the practice acted upon feedback.
• The practice had an active patient participation group.
• The practice organised and delivered services to meet patients’ needs. Patients could access care and treatment in a timely way.
• There was a clear leadership structure and staff told us they felt able to raise concerns and were confident these would be addressed.
• There was a strong focus on continuous learning and improvement.
• The way the practice was led and managed promoted the delivery of high-quality and person-centre care.

The areas where the provider must make improvements are:

• Ensure care and treatment is provided in a safe way to patients.

(Please see the specific details on action required at the end of this report).

The areas where the provider should make improvements are:

• Consider measures to encourage the uptake of cervical and breast cancer screening rates.

Details of our findings and the evidence supporting our ratings are set out in the evidence table.

Professor Steve Field CBE FRCP FFPH FRCGP

Chief Inspector of General Practice

Letter from the Chief Inspector of General Practice

We carried out an announced comprehensive inspection at Docklands Medical Centre on 20 November 2014. Overall the practice is rated as good.

Specifically, we found the practice to be good for providing safe, well-led, effective, caring and responsive services. It was also good for providing services for older people, people with long term conditions, families, children and young people, people living in vulnerable circumstances and people experiencing poor mental health (including people with dementia). We found the practice to be providing good services for working age people (including those recently retired and students).

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

• Patients said they were treated with compassion, dignity and respect and they were involved in their care and decisions about their treatment;
• Patients’ needs were assessed and care was planned and delivered following best practice guidance. Staff had received training appropriate to their roles;

• The practice had good facilities and was well equipped to treat patients and meet their needs;

• The practice had recognised the needs of different groups in the planning of its services. For example, staff could outline how they helped vulnerable patients who needed additional support to understand and be involved in their care;

• There was a strong focus on continuous learning and improvement at all levels of the organisation. For example, the practice was part of a network of four local practices which allowed the practice to share clinical best practice.

However there were areas of practice where the provider needs to make improvements. Importantly the provider must:

• Carry out Disclosure and Barring service (DBS) checks on all staff who undertake chaperone duties at the practice.

In addition, the provider should;

• Include complaints procedure information on its website and translate existing complaints posters in reception into local community languages;

• Ensure all staff who undertook chaperone activities are suitably trained.

Professor Steve Field CBE FRCP FFPH FRCGP 

Chief Inspector of General Practice