Abbey Medical Centre

Updated 7 November 2022

Abbey Medical Centre is located in the London Borough of Barking and Dagenham in East London and is located at:

1 Harpour Road

Barking

Essex

IG11 8RJ

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

The practice is situated within the North East London (Integrated Care System (ICS) and to a patient population of about 7,396. The Practice delivers a (Personal Medical Services (PMS) contract. This is part of a contract held with NHS England.

Information published by Public Health England shows that deprivation within the practice population group is in the third lowest decile (three out 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 40% Asian, 34% White, 18% Black, 4% Mixed, and 3% Other.

The practice had a team of GPs, trainee GP respirators, advanced nurse practitioners. The clinicians are supported at the practice by the practice manager and assistant practice manager and a team of reception and administration staff.

The practice is open between 8am to 8pm Monday and Wednesday and 9am to 6.30pm on a Monday, Tuesday and Friday. The practice offers a range of appointment types including book on the day, telephone consultations and advance appointments.

Updated 7 November 2022

We carried out an announced focused inspection at between the 4, 7 and 14 October 2022 at Abbey Medical Centre. Overall, the practice is rated as good.

Safe -good.

Effective – good.

Caring – good.

Responsive - requires improvement

Well-led -. good

At our previous inspection on 10 December 2018, 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 Abbey Medical Centre on our website at www.cqc.org.uk

Why we carried out this inspection

We carried out this inspection in line with our inspection priorities. The inspection included a review of safe, effective, caring, responsive and well-led.

How we carried out the inspection

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 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.
• Information from the provider, patients, the public and other organisations.

We found that:

• The practice had responded to the negative findings of the GP survey and patient’s complaints over the previous 12 months regarding medication and prescription errors, long waiting times on the telephone, lack of appointments, and staff attitude. However, at the time of this inspection the responses had only recently been implemented or were waiting commencement. We were therefore unable to establish if changes had made or would improve patient satisfaction in these areas.
• Staff were aware of the clinical staff’s scope of practice but did not have a reference tool to provide a consistent approach.
• The practice provided care in a way that kept patients safe and protected them from avoidable harm.
• Patients’ needs were assessed, and care and treatment were delivered in line with current legislation, standards and evidence-based guidance supported by clear pathways and tools.
• The practice involved the public, staff and external partners to sustain high quality and sustainable care.

The practice always obtained consent to care and treatment in line with legislation and guidance.

There were evidence of systems and processes for learning, continuous improvement and innovation.

We found a breach of regulation. The provider must:

• Establish effective systems and processes to ensure good governance in accordance with the fundamental standards of care.

The provider should:

• Improve the oversight of role specific training.
• Clarify and formalise arrangements to ensure clarity for staff when allocating appointments to the most appropriate clinician.
• Improve the scope of practice records for advanced nurse practitioners.

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 Hospitals and Interim Chief Inspector of Primary Medical Services