This service is rated as Good overall. This service has not been inspected previously.

The key questions are rated as:

Are services safe? – Good

Are services effective? – Good

Are services caring? – Good

Are services responsive? – Good

Are services well-led? – Good

We carried out an announced comprehensive inspection of Kingston General Practice Chambers on 14 and 15 March 2019 as part of our inspection programme; this included visiting and inspecting all three of the Chambers’ registered locations. Merritt Medical Centre was visited as part of this inspection on 14 March 2019.

At this inspection we found:

• The service had good systems to manage risk so that safety incidents were less likely to happen; however, in some areas policies and procedures required review, and the service was in the process of addressing this at the time of the inspection. We saw evidence that when safety incidents did happen, the service learned from them and improved their processes.
• The service routinely reviewed the effectiveness and appropriateness of the care it provided. These reviews provided some assurance that care and treatment was being delivered according to evidence-based guidelines; however, in respect of the extended hours service, the audit programme did not include wide-scale reviews, for example, to ensure appropriate antibiotic prescribing.
• Staff involved and treated people with compassion, kindness, dignity and respect.
• Patients were able to access care and treatment from the service within an appropriate timescale for their needs.
• There was a strong focus on continuous learning and improvement at all levels of the organisation.

The areas where the provider should make improvements are:

- Review the risk assessment process in respect of pre-employment Disclosure and Barring Service checks.

- Review the arrangements in place for ensuring that medicines are prescribed according to appropriate guidance, in particular, in relation to monitoring antimicrobial prescribing and ensuring a fully documented audit trail of the handling of medicines and safety alerts.

- Review the information provided to staff in respect of reporting significant events to ensure that all staff are aware of the location of the reporting form.

Dr Rosie Benneyworth BM BS BMedSci MRCGP

Chief Inspector of Primary Medical Services and Integrated Care