Letter from the Chief Inspector of General Practice

We carried out an announced comprehensive inspection at Imperial College Health Centre on 25 February 2016. 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 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.
• Patients said they found it easy to make an appointment with a preferred GP and daily walk in clinics and a triage system enabled the availability of urgent appointments on 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 areas where the provider should make improvements are:

• Ensure the arrangements in hand for GPs to receive safeguarding update training are concluded.
• Continue to seek improvements in the uptake of childhood immunisations.

We saw one area of outstanding practice:

During the first month of the academic year the practice actively promoted registration of new undergraduates to the colleges it served, running additional clinics for immunisations against meningitis and MMR. During the first weekend of term, practice staff were are on site in the student halls of residence to facilitate the registration process. GP staff presented lectures to educate students about the practice’s services and the NHS system. This was of particular benefit to the 50% or so students who came from abroad who were not familiar with the health service and how to access it.

Professor Steve Field (CBE FRCP FFPH FRCGP) 

Chief Inspector of General Practice

We reviewed the information available to us about Imperial College Health Centre on 14 June 2019. We did not find evidence of significant changes to the quality of service being provided since the last inspection. As a result, we decided not to inspect the surgery at this time. We will continue to monitor this information about this service throughout the year and may inspect the surgery when we see evidence of potential changes.