The Care Quality Commission
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  • GP practice

Archived: The Practice Furzedown

Overall: Good read more about inspection ratings

88E Eardley Road, London, SW16 6BL (020) 8677 0083

Provided and run by:
The Practice Surgeries Limited

All Inspections

16 January 2017

During a routine inspection

Letter from the Chief Inspector of General Practice

We carried out an announced comprehensive inspection at The Practice Furzedown on 16 January 2017.

The practice was originally inspected on the 19 March 2015 and the overall rating for the practice was requires improvement and the full comprehensive report can be found by selecting the ‘all reports’ link for The Practice Furzedown on our website at www.cqc.org.uk.

This inspection was undertaken to establish whether or not the practice had made sufficient

improvement and was an announced comprehensive inspection on 16 January 2017. Overall the practice is now rated as good.

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 in place for reporting and recording significant events.
  • Risks to patients were assessed and well managed.
  • There was now a system for monitoring fridge temperatures and clear protocols for staff to follow if the minimum temperature exceeded. All staff had received training in managing fridge temperatures and medicines management.
  • Data from the Quality and Outcomes Framework (QOF) showed patient outcomes had improved since the inspection in March 2015, and were comparable to the CCG average and England average.
  • 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 named GP and 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 provider was aware of and complied with the requirements of the duty of candour.

  • The practice had implemented an overarching governance framework to support the delivery of the strategy and good quality care. We saw that structures and procedures had been put into place and work was continuing to make the framework comprehensive and sustainable.

The areas where the provider should make improvements are:

  • Improve the identification of carers to ensure their needs are known and can be met.

  • Improve practice activities to improve performance data.

  • To complete an up to date Legionella risk assessment.

Professor Steve Field CBE FRCP FFPH FRCGP 

Chief Inspector of General Practice

19 March 2015

During a routine inspection

Letter from the Chief Inspector of General Practice

We carried out an announced comprehensive inspection at The Furzedown Practice on 19 March 2015. Overall the practice is rated as requires improvement.

Specifically, we found the practice to require improvement for providing safe, effective, and well led services. It also required improvement for all population groups because of the overall rating. It was good for providing a caring and responsive service.

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

  • Staff understood and fulfilled their responsibilities to raise concerns, and to report incidents and near misses. Information about safety was recorded, monitored, appropriately reviewed and addressed.
  • The practice had not been monitoring fridge temperatures appropriately in terms of taking action and escalating matters when the minimum or maximum fridge temperatures were exceeded. Vaccines were therefore not being stored appropriately, within cold chain guidance. Urgent appointments were usually available on the day they were requested.
  • The practice had a number of policies and procedures to govern activity.
  • Patients said they were treated with compassion, dignity and respect and they were involved in their care and decisions about their treatment.
  • Significant events were recorded as incidents and there was no appropriate analysis of significant events that had been recorded.
  • Information about services and how to complain was available and easy to understand.

The areas where the provider must make improvements are:

  • Ensure vaccines are stored appropriately and appropriate action is taken when fridge temperatures exceed minimum and maximum temperatures
  • Ensure staff have received appropriate training for medicines management, particularly in relation to the safe management of vaccines..
  • Ensure there are formal governance arrangements in place and staff are aware how these operate.

The areas where the provider should make improvements are:

  • Ensure that significant events and incidents are recoded appropriately
  • Undertake Structured clinical meetings to discuss high risk patients identified from practice systems
  • Improve processes for ensuring correspondence received is scanned onto the electronic patient record system in a timely manner to reduce risk
  • Ensure all patients with long term conditions, learning disability, those with mental health conditions and vulnerable groups receive an annual review and have access to care planning.
  • Establish ways to improve health promotion and uptake of chlamydia, bowel cancer and breast cancer screening in the practice population
  • Improve processes for coding clinical conditions and practice activities to improve performance data
  • Ensure all patients aged 75 and over have a named GP
  • Provide opportunities internally for clinicians to learn and develop through peer support (e.g. regular clinical meetings, updates).

Professor Steve Field (CBE FRCP FFPH FRCGP) 

Chief Inspector of General Practice