Background to this inspection
Updated
21 October 2021
Toddington Medical Centre is located in the village of Toddington at:
Luton Road
Toddington
Dunstable
Bedfordshire
LU5 6DE
The provider is registered with CQC to deliver the Regulated Activities; diagnostic and screening procedures, family planning, maternity and midwifery services, surgical procedures and treatment of disease, disorder or injury.
The practice is situated within the Bedfordshire, Luton and Milton Keynes (BLMK) Clinical Commissioning Group (CCG) and delivers General Medical Services (GMS) to a patient population of about 7,570. A GMS contract is a nationally agreed contract between general practices and NHS England for delivering general medical services to local communities.
The practice is a member of a primary care network (PCN) that enables them to work with other practices in the area to deliver care.
Information published by Public Health England rates the level of deprivation within the practice population group as ten on a scale of one to ten. Level one represents the highest levels of deprivation and level ten the lowest.
According to the latest available data, the ethnic make-up of the practice area is 96% White, 2% Asian, and 2% Mixed.
The practice has a higher than average number of patients aged 50 to 74 years and a lower number of patients aged 25 to 44 years.
The practice has four GP partners, two male and two female. The nursing team consists of two practice nurses and two health care assistants, all female. There is a team of reception/administration staff who are led by the practice manager and deputy practice manager.
Due to the enhanced infection prevention and control measures put in place since the pandemic and in line with the national guidance, most GP appointments are telephone consultations. If the GP needs to see a patient face-to-face this is then offered to the patient.
Toddington Medical Centre is open from 8am to 6.30pm on Monday to Friday. The practice operates an extended hours service from 7am on Monday and Thursdays and until 7pm on Mondays. When the practice is closed, out of hours services are can be accessed via the NHS 111 service.
Updated
21 October 2021
We carried out an announced inspection at Toddington Medical Centre on 22 September. Overall, the practice is rated as good.
Safe - Good
Effective - Good
Caring - Good
Responsive - Good
Well-led - Good
Following our previous inspection on 13 January 2020, the practice was rated requires improvement overall and for the key questions are services safe, effective and well-led.
The full reports for previous inspections can be found by selecting the ‘all reports’ link for Toddington Medical Centre on our website at www.cqc.org.uk
Why we carried out this inspection
This inspection was a focused inspection to follow up on:
- The key questions inspected: are services safe, effective and well-led. The rating of good for are services caring and responsive was carried forward from the previous inspection.
- Any breaches of regulations and areas we identified where the provider should make improvements 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 and telephone calls.
- 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 for all population groups.
We rated the practice as good for providing safe services because:
- Improvements had been made to the monitoring of patients who were prescribed high-risk medicines.
- The practice had produced guidance for staff regarding the management of blood test results and records reviewed showed they were handled correctly.
- Records were kept of the fridge temperatures to ensure vaccines were stored safely.
- The practice had worked with a local occupational health clinic to ensure all staff were vaccinated in line with current PHE guidance.
We rated the practice as good for providing effective services because:
- Improvements had been made to the system for medication reviews and the review of patients with a long-term condition.
- A process was in place, supported by the administrative team, to recall patients for reviews.
- The practice had achieved the WHO based national target of 95% uptake in four out of the five childhood immunisation indicators.
We rated the practice as good for providing well-led services because:
- Governance structures had been strengthened and there were clear responsibilities, roles and systems of accountability to support good governance and management.
- Business meetings were used to identify challenges for the practice and make plans to address them.
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