Background to this inspection
Updated
19 December 2017
The Globe Town Surgery operates from 82 – 86 Roman Road, London, E2 0PJ. The practice provides NHS primary medical services through a Primary Medical Services contract to just over 14,000 patients in the Tower Hamlets Area. Approximately 6,000 of those patients are students. The practice is part of the Tower Hamlets Clinical Commissioning Group (CCG) and is part of a network of five practices in the CCG creating ‘The One Network’.
The practice also has a branch surgery at Queen Mary University providing student health services. It comprises one waiting room, one reception area, a treatment room and a consultation room. We visited this service as part of our inspection.
The practice has one male GP (and one male locum GP who worked regularly at the practice), four part time female GPs (and two female locum GPs who worked regularly at the practice), who provided a combined total of 40 sessions. There were two practice nurses, two healthcare assistants, a part time phlebotomist, a practice manager, reception manager and an administrative team of 12 part time and two full time staff. The practice is a training practice. At the time of inspection there was one GP registrar placement.
The practice has level access via a ramp from the pavement and consultations are all provided on the ground floor level. There are good bus and rail links close to the practice and some parking spaces for disabled people close by. It has a waiting room in front of the main reception desk.
It has a high proportion of patients who are non-English speaking or whose first language is not English and a significantly higher than average younger population but a lower than average older population. The average age of patients was 27.7 years and the practice has six times the national average of 20-24 year olds due to being the health care provider for students at the Queen Mary University.
The practice is in an area with a high deprivation weighting. The Indices of Multiple Deprivation score is two. The lower the Indices of Multiple Deprivation decile, the more deprived an area is.
The practice is registered with the CQC to provide the regulated activities Diagnostic and screening procedures, Family planning, Maternity and midwifery services, Surgical procedures and Treatment of disease, disorder or injury.
The practice has a website which provides a range of information about the practice and services provided. It can be accessed here www.globetown.org.
The practice reception and surgery opening hours are:
Monday to Wednesday: 8.45am – 6pm
Thursday: 8.45am – 1pm – closed in the afternoon
Friday: 8.45am to 1pm and 2pm to 6pm
Saturday and Sunday: Closed
Appointments are from 9am and the last face to face appointment is available at 5:50pm or 6:10pm for telephone consultations. Appointments are available throughout the day.
Extended appointments can be made on any day when the practice is open. If the practice is closed there is a number patients can call to obtain the Out of Hours service contact details. This is also on the practice leaflet and website.
Updated
19 December 2017
Letter from the Chief Inspector of General Practice
This practice is rated as Good overall. (Previous inspection November 2014 – Good)
The key questions are rated as:
Are services safe? – Good
Are services effective? – Good
Are services caring? – Good
Are services responsive? – Good
Are services well-led? - Good
As part of our inspection process, we also look at the quality of care for specific population groups. The population groups are rated as:
Older People – Good
People with long-term conditions – Good
Families, children and young people – Good
Working age people (including those recently retired and students – Good
People whose circumstances may make them vulnerable – Good
People experiencing poor mental health (including people with dementia) - Good
We carried out an announced comprehensive inspection at The Globe Town Surgery on 6 November 2017. The practice was previously inspected in November 2014. All key questions were rated as good and this inspection was to ensure that the practice were maintaining standards. At that inspection there were a small number of areas identified that the provider needed to improve and we found these had been addressed.
At this inspection we found:
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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.
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Staff involved and treated patients with compassion, kindness, dignity and respect.
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The practice had clear systems to manage risk so that safety incidents were less likely to happen, although we found the arrangements for the storage and access to drugs and equipment for managing medical emergencies, across both the main site and branch surgery needed to be reviewed as equipment was not clearly labelled and the right equipment was not easily identifiable in an emergency.
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When incidents did happen, the practice learned from them and improved their processes.
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Patients found the appointment system easy to use but feedback from the GP survey suggested that they were not always able to access care when they needed it. Patients could also make appointments or consult a GP online.
- There was a clear leadership structure and staff felt supported by management.
- The provider was aware of the requirements of the duty of candour. Examples we reviewed showed the practice complied with these requirements.
- We found the practice had not clearly displayed its previous inspection report or ratings but they confirmed they would do that without delay.
The areas where the provider should make improvements are:
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Review the arrangements for the storage and access to drugs and equipment for managing medical emergencies, across both the main site and branch surgery.
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Review availability of equipment to manage medical emergencies taking into account guidelines issued by the Resuscitation Council (UK).
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Review the system for staff appraisal so that all staff have an opportunity for annual appraisal.
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Review the call / recall arrangements for cervical screening to ensure responsibility for this is clear
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Review the current low number of carers identified
Professor Steve Field (CBE FRCP FFPH FRCGP)
Chief Inspector of General Practice