The Care Quality Commission
  • Doctor
  • GP practice

East Barnet Health Centre

Overall: Good read more about inspection ratings

149 East Barnet Road, Barnet, Hertfordshire, EN4 8QZ (020) 3474 6829

Provided and run by:
East Barnet Health Centre

Important: The provider of this service changed. See old profile

All Inspections

6 July 2023

During a monthly review of our data

We carried out a review of the data available to us about East Barnet Health Centre on 6 July 2023. We have not found evidence that we need to carry out an inspection or reassess our rating at this stage.

This could change at any time if we receive new information. We will continue to monitor data about this service.

If you have concerns about East Barnet Health Centre, you can give feedback on this service.

During an assessment under our new approach

We carried out an announced assessment of one quality statement, equity of access, under the key question Responsive at East Barnet Health Centre on 29 January 2024. We carried out the assessment as part of our work to understand how practices are working to try to meet peoples demands for access and to better understand the experiences of people who use services and providers. The responsive key question remains rated as good. The service remains rated as good overall. We recognise the work that GP practices have been engaged in to continue to provide safe, quality care to the people they serve. We know staff are carrying this out whilst the demand for general practice remains exceptionally high, with more appointments being provided than ever. However, this challenging context, access to general practice remains a concern for people. Our strategy makes a commitment to deliver regulation driven by people’s needs and experiences of care. The assessment of the quality statement equity of access includes looking at what practices are doing innovatively to improve patient access to primary care and sharing this information to drive improvement. The leaders understood the challenges to patient access and responded to patient needs, however the patient feedback from the GP survey was below the national average for 2022 and 2023. Physical premises and equipment are accessible. People were given support to overcome barriers to ensure equal access.

5 July 2022

During a routine inspection

We carried out an announced inspection at East Barnet Health Centre on 5 July 2022. Overall, the practice is rated as Good.

Set out the ratings for each key question

Safe - Good

Effective – Good

Caring - Good

Responsive - Good

Well-led - Good

Why we carried out this inspection

This inspection was a comprehensive inspection as the practice had not been previously rated by the CQC.

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.
  • Information from the provider, patients, the public and other organisations.

We have rated this practice as Good overall

We found that:

  • The practice provided care in a way that kept patients safe and protected them from avoidable harm.
  • Patients received effective care and treatment that met their needs.
  • 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.
  • The way the practice was led and managed promoted the delivery of high-quality, person-centre care.

Whilst we found no breaches of regulations, the provider should:

  • Formalise a patient safeguarding register;
  • Look at further ways to improve the uptake for the childhood immunisation programme;
  • Look at further ways to improve the uptake for the cervical screening programme;
  • Look at further areas of practice for clinical audit;
  • Continue to develop the system for effectively monitoribg safety alerts.

Details of our findings and the evidence supporting our ratings are set out in the evidence tables.

Dr Sean O’Kelly BSc MB ChB MSc DCH FRCA

Chief Inspector of Hospitals and Interim Chief Inspector of Primary Medical Services