The Care Quality Commission
  • Doctor
  • GP practice

Grovelands Medical Centre

Overall: Good read more about inspection ratings

1 Grovelands Road, London, N13 4RJ (020) 8882 4556

Provided and run by:
Grovelands Medical and London Diagnostic Centre

All Inspections

During an assessment under our new approach

Date of Assessment: 30 June 2026. Grovelands Medical Centre is a GP practice and delivers services to approximately 9100 people under a contract held with NHS England. The provider also provides services from a branch surgery, the Natal Road Surgery and runs the London Diagnostic Centre (attached to the Grovelands site) which provides diagnostic and screening procedures on a mainly private basis, although some NHS work is undertaken for the patients of Grovelands Medical Centre. Services at the London Diagnostic Centre include blood tests, x-rays and ultrasound procedures. We did not visit Natal Road or assess the London Diagnostic Centre in this assessment. According to the latest available data, the ethnic make-up of the service area is approximately 59.8% White, 12.8% Asian, 6.2% Mixed, 10.3% Black and 11% Other. Information published by the Office for Health Improvement and Disparities shows deprivation within the service population group is in the 5th decile (5 of 10). The lower the decile, the more deprived the service population is relative to others.

This was a focused assessment. We undertook this assessment due to the length of time since our last assessment. We assessed 10 quality statements from across all 5 key questions. 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.

Staff kept facilities clean and maintained equipment appropriately to ensure people were kept safe. They assessed and managed the risk of infection well and took steps to control the risk of it spreading. There were enough staff with the right skills, qualifications and experience.

Staff supported people to live healthier lives, monitoring their care and treatment to ensure they received positive and consistent outcomes.

Staff treated people with kindness, empathy and compassion, and respected their privacy and dignity.

People could access care, treatment and support when they needed it. Leaders and staff were alert to discrimination and inequality that could disadvantage groups of people who used the service and sought ways to address any barriers.

The service had a clear vision and strategy, which considered the needs of the people who used their service and the wider community. Staff understood their individual roles and responsibilities. Leaders accounted for the actions, behaviours and performance of staff through clear and effective governance processes.

10 April 2017

During a routine inspection

Letter from the Chief Inspector of General Practice

We carried out a desk based review of the Grovelands Medical Centre on 10 April 2017. We found the practice to be good for providing safe services and it is rated as good overall.

We had previously conducted an announced comprehensive inspection of the practice on 2 June 2016. As a result of our findings during that visit, the practice was rated as good for being effective, caring, responsive and well-led, and requires improvement for providing a safe service, which resulted in a rating of good overall. We found that the provider had breached one regulation of the Health and Social Care Act 2008: Regulation 19 (3) Fit and proper persons employed. You can read the report from our last comprehensive inspection http://www.cqc.org.uk/location/1-547861444/reports. We asked the practice to us to tell us what it would do to make improvements and meet the legal requirements.

We undertook a desk based review on 10 April 2017 to check that the practice had implemented its plan, and to confirm that it had met the legal requirements. This report only covers our findings in relation to those areas where requirements had not been met previously.

Our key findings on 10 April 2017 were as follows:

  • The practice had revised their recruitment procedure to include the requirement of pre-employment checks.

  • Pre-employment checks had been received for all members of staff.

Professor Steve Field CBE FRCP FFPH FRCGP 

Chief Inspector of General Practice

2 June 2016

During a routine inspection

Letter from the Chief Inspector of General Practice

We carried out an announced comprehensive inspection at Grovelands Medical Centre on 2 June 2016. Overall the practice is rated as good.

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

  • The practice had completed pre-employment checks for all but one employee.
  • The vaccines fridge temperature recording showed that the fridge was going above the upper limit (eight degrees Celsius) for storage of vaccines. On raising this with the practice it took immediate steps to rectify the issue. An engineer attended the following day and confirmed that it was a new fridge and he temperature reading had not been properly calibrated. On setting the fridge correctly it showed that it was staying in the correct range (2-8 degrees C).
  • 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.
  • 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 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. 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 GP and there was continuity of care, with urgent appointments available the same day.
  • 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 provider was aware of and complied with the requirements of the duty of candour.

The areas where the provider must make improvement are:

  • Ensure the procedure for all staff recruitment includes undertaking all relevant pre-employment checks as specified in Schedule 3 of the Health and Social Care Act 2008 (Regulated Activities) Regulations 2014.

The areas where the provider should make improvement are:

  • To revise the practice business continuity plan to ensure it includes all relevant contact details.

  • To consider installing a hearing loop to support patients with impaired hearing.

  • To consider how to improve access to the Grovelands Road surgery for the benefit of disabled patients and to provide disabled facilities within the surgery.

Professor Steve Field CBE FRCP FFPH FRCGP

Chief Inspector of General Practice

12 June 2014

During a routine inspection

Grovelands Road Medical Centre is a small practice situated in a residential road in Palmers Green North London. The practice provides primary medical services to people in the local community.

The service is registered with the Care Quality Commission to provide the regulated activities of diagnostic and screening procedures, treatment of disease, disorder and injury, family planning and maternity and midwifery services.

We inspected Grovelands Medical Centre.  We did not inspect the two other practices two practices associatd with Grovelands Medical Practice which are 1 Grenoble Gardens and 7 Natal Road.

During our inspection we spoke with two GPs, the practice nurse, a health care assistant, the practice manager and two non-clinical staff members. We spoke with three patients and used comment cards to ask people for their views. We received positive feedback from patients who were satisfied with the care they received.  A Patient Participation Group (PPG) had recently been set up to involve patients in developing the service and provide feedback on patient care to the practice staff.

Staff we spoke with were aware of their professional role and responsibility and were trained to meet the needs of patients. The practice provided care and treatment in accordance with best practice standards and guidance and worked in collaboration with other services to deliver effective care to patients. The practice was responsive to patients needs and responded to concerns and complaints.  A complaints procedure was on display and a record had been made of complaints. Evidence was available to demonstrate that the practice had responded to complaints and had provided training for staff.

The practice had good leadership and was continuously looking for areas of improvement.  We found there were some areas that required improvement. The practice had a procedure for reporting and investigating near misses and significant events. The records were not always fully completed and there was no evidence of the practice shared the learning with staff.