During our inspection we spoke with the practice manager, a GP (who was also the provider), reception staff and the practice nurse. We also spoke with five people who use the service. Comments included, 'Staff are always cheerful and polite' and 'I can usually see the doctor of my choice'. Another person said 'staff are always polite and well mannered'. However other comments included, 'I had a bad experience three weeks ago, I was given a new doctor who was not sympathetic, now I've switched to another doctor who is good' and 'They rush you in and out, they are all like that and don't take the time to explain things.'Information was available to people about the service and people could choose to visit either of the two sites where the staff worked. People could book an appointment or use the walk in service if there was an emergency. This was held for an hour each weekday morning at the Ruislip site. This was only available for people registered at the service.
We viewed the systems in the service to ensure, where necessary, people were appropriately referred on to specialists for further investigations and/or treatment.
Safeguarding procedures were in place. However, some staff had not received adequate training to recognise the signs of possible abuse in both children and adults. Furthermore the service did not have a whistle blowing policy and procedure in place.
Staff had received adequate support and training to ensure they were able to meet the needs of the people using the service. However, we did not see evidence of all the training staff completed or attended and we could not verify that all staff received an annual appraisal.
The provider had procedures for monitoring the quality of services provided to people using the service.