OHP - Bloomsbury Medical Centre

We carried out an announced inspection at OHP-Dr Eamon McQuillan (Bloomsbury Medical Centre) on 22 June 2021. Overall, the practice is rated as Good.

Set out the ratings for each key question

Safe - Good

Effective - Good

Caring – Good (rating carried forward from the November 2019 inspection)

Responsive – Good (rating carried forward from the November 2019 inspection)

Well-led - Good

Following our previous inspection on 28 November 2019, the practice was rated Requires Improvement overall and for two key questions (for providing safe and well-led services).

The full reports for previous inspections can be found by selecting the ‘all reports’ link for OHP-Dr Eamon McQuillan (Bloomsbury Medical Centre) on our website at www.cqc.org.uk

Why we carried out this inspection

This inspection was a focused inspection of the Safe, Effective and Well-led key questions to follow up on any breaches of regulations and ‘should’ identified in the previous inspection:

How we carried out the inspection

Throughout the pandemic CQC has continued to regulate and respond to risk. However, taking into account the circumstances arising as a result of the pandemic, and in order to reduce risk, we have conducted our inspections differently.

This inspection was carried out in a way which enabled us to spend a minimum amount of time on site. This was with consent from the provider and in line with all data protection and information governance requirements.

This included:

• Conducting staff interviews using video conferencing / telephone
• Completing clinical searches on the practice’s patient records system and discussing findings with the provider
• 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 have rated this practice as Good overall and good for all population groups with the exception of the Families, children and young people population group (which is requires improvement).

We found that:

• The practice provided care in a way that kept patients safe and protected them from avoidable harm. Since our previous inspection, the practice had made significant improvements to ensure systems in place helped keep patients safe.
• Patients received effective care and treatment that met their needs. Our review of the clinical system found the practice provided appropriate care and treatment to their patients.
• Staff dealt with patients with kindness and respect and involved them in decisions about their care. The practice received higher than average patient satisfaction scores for the services provided.
• The practice adjusted how it delivered services to meet the needs of patients during the COVID-19 pandemic. 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. Since our previous inspection the general governance of the practice had improved.
• The practice was significantly below national targets for child immunisations and cervical screening uptake.
• The practice had been proactive at the start of the pandemic, obtaining additional equipment such as thermometers and pulse oximeters, to loan to patients to monitor potential COVID-19 symptoms.

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

• Take action to improve the uptake of child immunisations and cervical screening uptake.
• Record day of the week for taking Methotrexate when prescribing in line with best practice.
• Improve systems for engaging with patients.

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

Dr Rosie Benneyworth BM BS BMedSci MRCGP

Chief Inspector of Primary Medical Services and Integrated Care