Suttons Wharf Health Centre

Updated 12 January 2024

Suttons Wharf Health Centre is located in Tower Hamlets at:

26 Palmers Road

Bethnal Green

London

E2 0FA

The provider is registered with CQC to deliver the Regulated Activities; diagnostic and screening procedures, maternity and midwifery services and treatment of disease, disorder or injury and surgical procedures.

The practice is situated within the North East London Integrated Care System (ICS) and delivers General Medical Services (GMS) to a patient population of about 19000. The practice is a part of a wider network of four GP practices who it shares some services with.

Information published by Office for Health Improvement and Disparities shows that deprivation within the practice population group is in the second lowest decile (two of 10). The lower the decile, the more deprived the practice population is relative to others.

According to the latest available data, the ethnic make-up of the practice area is 57% Asian, 21% White, 15% Black, 4% Mixed, and 3% Other.

The age distribution of the practice population closely mirrors the local and national averages. There are more male patients registered at the practice compared to females.

The practice has three male GPs, four female GPs (and multiple locum GPs who work regularly at the practice) with the aim to provide 45 GP sessions per week. There are two practice nurses who provide a combined total of 119 appointment per week, two healthcare assistants who provide 228 appointments per week, a primary care network (PCN) Pharmacist and two PCN social prescribers. There is also a PCN Mental Health Nurse, a Smoking Cessation advisor and a Midwife. The non-clinical team is made up of a Management Partner, Operation manager and an administrative team of 10 staff. The practice is a training practice with three GP registrars currently in place.

The practice is open Monday to Friday between 8am and 6:30pm however, the practice closes for one hour on a Friday between 1pm and 2pm for a staff meeting. The practice is also open on alternate Saturdays between 9am and 5pm.

The practice offers a range of appointment types including book on the day, telephone consultations and advance appointments.

Extended access is provided locally where late evening and weekend appointments are available.

Updated 12 January 2024

We carried out an announced comprehensive inspection at Suttons Wharf Health Centre on 11 and 18 October 2023. Overall, the practice is rated as requires improvement.

Safe - good

Effective – requires improvement

Caring - good

Responsive – requires improvement

Well-led - good

Following our previous inspection on 6 November 2017, the practice was rated good overall and for all key questions.

The full reports for previous inspections can be found by selecting the ‘all reports’ link for Suttons Wharf Health Centre on our website at www.cqc.org.uk

Why we carried out this inspection

We carried out this comprehensive inspection as the practice had not been inspected since 2017.

How we carried out the inspection/review

This inspection was carried out in a way which enabled us to spend a minimum amount of time on site.

This included:

• Conducting staff interviews using video conferencing.
• Completing clinical searches on the practice’s patient records system (this was with consent from the provider and in line with all data protection and information governance requirements).
• Reviewing patient records to identify issues and clarify actions taken by the provider.
• Requesting evidence from the provider.
• A short site visit.

Our findings

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 found that:

• The practice provided care in a way that kept patients safe and protected them from avoidable harm.
• Patients received effective care and treatment that met their needs.
• Staff dealt with patients with kindness and respect and involved them in decisions about their care.
• Patients could access care and treatment in a timely way.
• The way the practice was led and managed promoted the delivery of high-quality, person-centre care.
• Audits were used to improve levels of care provided to patients

Whilst we found no breaches of regulations, the provider should:

• Continue with measures to improve the uptake of childhood immunisations at the practice.
• Continue with measures to improve the uptake of cervical screening at the practice.
• Continue to monitor patients’ ongoing needs were met according to guidelines.
• Continue to improve the system for monitoring safety alerts.

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

Dr Sean O’Kelly BSc MB ChB MSc DCH FRCA

Chief Inspector of Health Care