- GP practice
Archived: Aylesford Medical Centre
All Inspections
16 Aug 2018
During a routine inspection
This practice is rated as Good overall. (Previous rating February 2016 – Good)
The key questions at this inspection are rated as:
Are services safe? – Good
Are services effective? – Good
Are services caring? – Good
Are services responsive? – Good
Are services well-led? - Good
We carried out an announced comprehensive inspection at Aylesford Medical Centre on 16 August 2018, under Section 60 of the Health and Social Care Act 2008 as part of our regulatory functions. This inspection was planned to check whether the provider was meeting the legal requirements and regulations associated with the Health and Social Care Act 2008, to look at the overall quality of the service, and to provide a rating for the service under the Care Act 2014.
At this inspection we found:
- The practice had clear systems to manage risk so that safety incidents were less likely to happen. When incidents did happen, the practice learned from them and improved their processes.
- The practice routinely reviewed the effectiveness and appropriateness of the care it provided. It ensured that care and treatment was delivered according to evidence-based guidelines.
- Staff involved and treated patients with compassion, kindness, dignity and respect.
- Patients found the appointment system easy to use and reported that they were able to access care when they needed it.
- There was a strong focus on continuous learning and improvement at all levels of the organisation.
We saw one area of outstanding practice:
- The practice used a Safe and Found protocol on their website. This enabled, in the event of a vulnerable family member or friend going missing, a form to be easily handed to the police to reduce the time taken in gathering information about them.
The areas where the provider should make improvements are:
- Continue to monitor and improve target rates for childhood immunisation uptakes.
- Continue with their plan to establish a new patient participation group.
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.
26 May 2016
During a routine inspection
Letter from the Chief Inspector of General Practice
We carried out an announced comprehensive inspection at Aylesford Medical Centre on 9 February 2016. Breaches of the legal requirements were found, in that:
The practice had clearly defined and embedded systems, processes and practices to keep patients safe and safeguarded from abuse. However, not all GPs had received appropriate training in safeguarding adults.
The practices systems and processes were established but were not operated effectively to enable the practice to assess, monitor and mitigate the risks relating to the health, safety and welfare of service users and others who may be at risk which arise from risks identified. For example, fire safety checks were inadequate.
As a result, the care and treatment was not always safe and well-led. Therefore, a Requirement Notice was served in relation to the Health and Social Care Act 2008 (Regulated Activities) Regulations 2014: Regulation 17 - Good governance.
Following the comprehensive inspection, the practice wrote to us to tell us what they would do to meet the legal requirements in relation to the breaches and how they would comply with the legal requirements, as set out in the Requirement Notices.
We undertook this desk based inspection on 26 May 2016, to check that the practice had followed their plan and to confirm that they now met the legal requirements. This report only covers our findings in relation to those requirements. You can read the report from our last comprehensive inspection by selecting the ‘all reports’ link for Aylesford Medical Centre on our website at www.cqc.org.uk.
Professor Steve Field (CBE FRCP FFPH FRCGP)
Chief Inspector of General Practice
9 February 2016
During a routine inspection
Letter from the Chief Inspector of General Practice
We carried out an announced comprehensive inspection at Aylesford Medical Centre on 9 February 2016. Overall the practice is rated as requires improvement.
Our key findings across all the areas we inspected were as follows:
- There was an open and transparent approach to safety and an effective system for reporting and recording significant events.
- Risks to patients were assessed and well managed, with the exception of those relating to fire safety checks.
- Staff assessed patients’ needs and delivered care in line with current evidence based guidance. Staff had the skills, knowledge and experience to deliver effective care and treatment.
- Patients said they were treated with compassion, dignity and respect and they were involved in their care and decisions about their treatment.
- Information about services and how to complain was available and easy to understand.
- Patients said they found it easy to make an appointment with a named GP and that 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.
- There was a clear leadership structure and staff felt supported by management. The practice proactively sought feedback from staff and patients, which it acted on.
The areas where the provider must make improvements are:
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Ensure the practice has an effective system to assess, monitor and mitigate the risks arising from fire safety requirements.
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Ensure that all GPs have received training in safeguarding adults
The areas where the provider should make improvements are:
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Ensure that national patient safety alerts are routinely reviewed in accordance with the increasing patient list size.
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Ensure that minutes of appropriate meetings are recorded.
Professor Steve Field (CBE FRCP FFPH FRCGP)
Chief Inspector of General Practice
15 August 2014
During an inspection looking at part of the service
We asked the provider to take action to address these concerns. They wrote to us confirming that all required actions had been taken to comply with the regulations regarding cleanliness and infection control.
On 15 August 2014 we conducted a follow-up inspection to check that the provider had achieved compliance. We found that the provider was able to demonstrate that they had met the compliance actions set to address the areas of concern identified at our previous inspection.
27 November 2013
During a routine inspection
We found that people's needs were assessed and care and treatment provided was discussed with them. People we spoke with were very positive about their experiences of care and treatment at the practice. Comments made included 'Everyone here is extremely friendly. The doctors are always helpful but are rushed. I give them top grading as a practice'. 'I am very well looked after, and feel comfortable talking to these doctors'.
We found that there was a child safeguarding policy in place, and an adult safeguarding policy and the staff we spoke with were aware of their roles and responsibilities in relation to abuse. We found that all the staff had received recent training in safeguarding.
We found that people were not fully protected from the risks associated with infection because appropriate procedures were not always documented as having been followed by staff.
Medicines were kept safely, but the processes to ensure the security prescription pads had not been risk assessed.
There were some formal mechanisms and some documentation in place to indicate the practice was able to monitor or assure the quality of the service people received.