The Care Quality Commission
  • Doctor
  • GP practice

Abbey Medical Centre

Overall: Good read more about inspection ratings

1 Harpour Road, Barking, Essex, IG11 8RJ (020) 8090 8106

Provided and run by:
Dr Anju Gupta

All Inspections

During an assessment under our new approach

Abbey Medical Centre is a GP practice situated at 1 Harpour Road, Barking, IG11 8RJ and delivers service and provides NHS primary medical care services to approximately 8,000 patients. The practice is registered with the CQC to provide the regulated activities of diagnostic and screening procedures; family planning; and treatment of disease, disorder or injury. Information published by the Office for Health Improvement and Disparities shows that deprivation within the practice population group is in the 3rd decile (3 of 10). The lower the decile, the more deprived the practice population is relative to others. This assessment considered the demographics of the people using the service, the context the service was working within and how this impacted service delivery. Where relevant, further commentary is provided in the quality statements section of this report.

We inspected and rated this service under our previous methodology between 4 to 12 October 2022 (published 7 November 2022). The overall rating for the practice was good with the key questions for safe, effective, caring and well-led rated as good. The key question of responsive was rated as requires improvement due to low scores on the GP Patient Survey and the practices’ complaints. We issued a requirement notice under Regulation 17 of the Health and Social Care Act (RA) Regulations 2014.

We carried out a remote focused inspection on 26 February 2026 and looked at the responsive key question. As a result of this inspection, we rated the practice as good for responsive because the practice had made the necessary improvements. The practice is no longer in breach of under Regulation 17 of the Health and Social Care Act (RA) Regulations 2014.

4 to14 October 2022

During an inspection looking at part of the service

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

10 December 2018

During an inspection looking at part of the service

This practice is rated as Good overall. (Previous rating 12 2017 – Good Overall, but requires improvement for providing caring services.)

The key question we rated at this inspection is:

Are services caring? – Good

We carried out an announced focussed inspection at Abbey Medical centre on 10 December 2018. We carried out this inspection to follow up on areas where improvements could be made at our last inspection. At this inspection, we inspected the Caring key question only.

At this inspection we found:

  • Patient feedback about the service was positive, and this included information obtained from various sources including national and practice patient surveys, friends and family test, and NHS choices
  • The practice patient survey results had improved considerably since our last inspection, because of the practice taking positive actions to address areas of poor feedback
  • The practice took feedback from patients seriously and acted on any identified areas for improvement.
  • Staff involved and treated patients with compassion, kindness, dignity and respect.
  • The practice had an active patient participation group, with a diverse membership. The PPG members indicated that they felt engaged and empowered by the practice to contribute to service developments.

The areas where the provider should make improvements are:

  • Consider displaying information about patient feedback, such as survey results, and actions the practice had taken in response, in the practice.

Professor Steve Field CBE FRCP FFPH FRCGP
Chief Inspector of General Practice

Please refer to the detailed report and the evidence tables for further information.

1 November 2017

During an inspection looking at part of the service

Letter from the Chief Inspector of General Practice

We carried out an announced comprehensive inspection at Abbey Medical Centre on 2 August 2016. The overall rating for the practice was good, however we rated the caring key question as requires improvement. The full comprehensive report on the 2 August 2016 inspection can be found by selecting the ‘all reports’ link for Abbey Medical Centre on our website at www.cqc.org.uk.

We conducted a desk based focused inspection on 1 November 2017 to check that the provider had followed their action plan and to confirm that they now met legal requirements.

This report only covers our findings in relation to those requirements. (A desk based focused inspection means the provider was able to send us evidence of the action taken to address the issues previously found rather than visiting the practice).

Our key finding was as follows:

  • Results from the most recent national GP patient survey showed the practice was still below local and national averages for some aspects of care.

The area where the provider should make improvement is:

  • Monitor and work to improve patient survey results so that they are in line with national averages.

Professor Steve Field (CBE FRCP FFPH FRCGP) 

Chief Inspector of General Practice

2 August 2016

During a routine inspection

Letter from the Chief Inspector of General Practice

We carried out an announced comprehensive inspection at Abbey Medical Centre on 2 August 2016. At the practice’s previous inspection in May 2015, it was rated as good for responsive services, requires improvement for effective and caring services; and rated as inadequate for safe and well led services, resulting in an overall inadequate rating. The practice was therefore placed in special measures.

The August 2016 follow up inspection considered if the regulatory breaches in the previous inspection had been addressed and whether sufficient improvements had been made to bring the practice out of special measures. Overall the practice is now rated as good.

Our key findings across all the areas we inspected were as follows:

  • There was a clear leadership structure and staff felt supported by management.
  • There was an open and transparent approach to safety and an effective system in place for reporting and recording significant events.

  • Risks to patients were assessed and well managed with the exception of administrative inconsistencies regarding the practice’s system for logging the outcome of cervical smear test results.

  • Staff assessed patients’ needs and delivered care in line with current evidence based guidance. Staff had been trained to provide them with the skills, knowledge and experience to deliver effective care and treatment.

  • Patients told us that that they were involved in decisions about their care and treatment and that they were treated with compassion, dignity and respect.
  • Information about services and how to complain was available and easy to understand. Improvements were made to the quality of care as a result of complaints and concerns.
  • Patients said they found it easy to make an appointment with a named GP and there was continuity of care, with urgent appointments available the same day.
  • The practice had good facilities and was well equipped to treat patients and meet their needs.
  • The practice proactively sought feedback from staff and patients, which it acted on.
  • The provider was aware of and complied with the requirements of the duty of candour.

The areas where the provider should make improvements are:

  • Continue to monitor its national GP patient survey results, as these showed that patient satisfaction on how clinicians treated patients with care and concern and on how GPs involved patients in decisions about their care, were below national and local averages.

Following this inspection, I am taking this service out of special measures. This recognises the significant improvements made to the quality of care provided by this service.

Professor Steve Field CBE FRCP FFPH FRCGP 

Chief Inspector of General Practice