- GP practice
The Harefield Practice
Report from 25 February 2025 assessment
Contents
Ratings
Our view of the service
Date of Assessment: Remote clinical searches date 07/05/2025 and site visit date 08/05/2025.
This assessment was triggered by a change in registration when a new partnership took over the operation of the existing service.
The Harefield Practice is a GP Practice and delivers General Medical Service (GMS) to 8,982 patients under a contract held with NHS England. The Practice is located within the London Borough of Hillingdon. The National General Practice profile states that the population make up for this location is 79.6% White, 11.4% Asian, 4.0% Mixed, 2.7% Black and other demographic / ethnicity is 2.36%. Information published by the Office for Health Improvement and Disparities shows that the deprivation within the practice population group is in the 7th decile (7 of 10). The lower the decile the more deprived the practice population is relative to others. This practice population area is in the fourth less deprived decile.
There were no breaches currently at this location and what we found is as follows:
Safe: People and staff were kept safe and protected from harm and abuse. The practice recorded significant events and learning shared with the practice staff. Risks were understood and managed by the staff. The Infection Prevention and Control policy was specific to the practice and regular audits were completed. Staff had regular appraisals and received relevant training.
Effective: People were involved in the assessment of their needs. Patients were invited for their health checks reviews. The practice delivered services in line with good practice. The practice worked with relevant stakeholders to achieve best outcomes for the patient population. Information was shared with the patients to ensure they made an informed decision about their health care needs.
Caring: People were treated with kindness and compassion by the clinical staff. The dignity and privacy of patients were respected. Staff felt valued and appreciated. However, some of the patients informed us that the front desk members of staff did not always treat patients with respect and compassion.
Responsive: People received services that were in line with the Equality Act. An interpreting services were made available to patients who needed them. Complaints were handled carefully and timely. However, access to appointments was a concern for some of the patient population and the practice had an action plan to improve the patient experience.
Well-led: The leadership and the management of the practice operated an open-door policy and shared vision of the practice with the staff. The leadership and management had a clear understanding of equality, human rights and safe compassionate care. Members of staff understood their roles and responsibilities and felt supported.
People's experience of this service
People had an overall positive experience of care and the results from the National Patient Survey and the NHS Friends and Family Test January 2025 confirmed this. The service had an active Patient Participation Group (PPG) that was keen on improving the patient experience for all by collaboration with the practice management. The PPG had a small number of patients involved but had a plan to increase the diversity of members. The PPG was involved in getting the furniture at the reception to be ergonomic and mobility-impaired friendly. The PPG worked with the practice to revamp the telephone system to make booking appointments easier for the patient population. Feedback received by CQC from the local Healthwatch in the London Borough of Hillingdon showed there were barriers to accessing appointments such as long waiting times on the phone, digital exclusion, online consultation tools not being effective to the patients, staff attitude and a lack of trust because of the issues identified.
Feedback received from the Care Quality Commission’s (CQC) share your experience online forms was positive. We received comments praising the speed of response and ability to get appointments and kindness of some of the staff.
Some of the patients we spoke to during the site visit shared their poor experiences of care with us and these related to difficulty getting appointments for patients who were less than a year old and attitude of the reception staff. We informed the practice management about this and there is an action plan to improve the care experience for all the patients.