Bedford Hill Family Practice

Updated 20 July 2022

Bedford Hill Family Practice is located in London at:

120 Bedford Hill

Balham

SW12 9HS

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

The practice is situated within the South West London Clinical Commissioning Group (CCG) and delivers Personal Medical Services (PMS) to a patient population of about 12,300. This is part of a contract held with NHS England. Bedford Hill Family Practice is part of Balham, Tooting and Furzedown Primary Care Network (PCN).

The practice is part of a wider network of GP Battersea Healthcare Federation.

Information published by Public Health England shows that deprivation within the practice population group is in the seventh highest decile (seven 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 75% White, 9% Asian, 10% Black, 5% Mixed, and 1% Other.

The age distribution of the practice population closely mirrors the local and national averages. There are more working age patients and patients with young families at the practice.

The practice’s clinical team consists of five GP partners, three salaried GPs a GP retainer, three nurses, a HCA who is also a phlebotomist and another phlebotomist. The GPs are supported at the practice by a practice manager, a deputy practice manager and a team of reception/administration staff of 13.

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 were telephone consultations. If a GP needs to see a patient face-to-face or a patient would like a face to face appointment, then the patient is offered an appointment at the surgery.

Extended access is provided by the surgery, where late evening and weekend appointments are available. Out of hours services are provided by NHS 111.

Updated 20 July 2022

We carried out an announced inspection at Bedford Hill Family Practice on 11 May 2022. Overall, the practice is rated as Good.

Set out the ratings for each key question

Safe - Good

Effective - Requires Improvement

Well-led - Good

Following our previous inspection on 6 October 2016, 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 Bedford Hill Family Practice on our website at www.cqc.org.uk

Why we carried out this inspection

We undertook this inspection as part of a random selection of services rated Good and Outstanding to test the reliability of our new monitoring approach.

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
• 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 requires improvement overall

We found that:

• The practice was equipped to respond to medical emergencies and staff were suitably trained in emergency procedures.
• Staff encouraged and supported patients to be involved in monitoring and managing their own health.
• Staff dealt with patients with kindness and respect and involved them in decisions about their care.
• 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.

We found one breach of regulations. The provider must:

• Ensure that care and treatment is provided in a safe way for patients.

(Please see the specific details on action required at the end of this report).

We also found that the provider should:

• Consider ways to log significant events and complaints to allow for themes to be identified and learning to be shared effectively.
• Continue to take action to improve uptake of childhood immunisations and cervical screening.

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