Background to this inspection
Updated
6 September 2021
Covent Garden Medical Centre, operates from 47 Shorts Gardens, London WC2H 9AA. The premises are leased from the local authority and occupy the ground floor of a residential block.
The practice provides NHS primary medical services through a General Medical Services (GMS) contract to approximately 4500 patients. It is part of the NHS Central London (Westminster) Clinical Commissioning Group (CCG) which is made up of 37 general practices.
The practice is registered with the CQC to carry out the following regulated activities:
- Diagnostic and screening procedures;
- Treatment of disease, disorder or injury; and
- Maternity and midwifery services.
The practice’s clinical team is led by a male GP partner alongside two male and two female salaried GPs. The clinical team is complemented by a female practice nurse. The administrative team is comprised of a practice manager, deputy practice manager and administrative staff.
GP appointments are available daily between 9am-1pm and 2.30pm-6.30pm. Nurse appointments are available 8.30am-1pm and 2pm-6pm
Routine appointments with GPs can be booked in advance. Appointments are 10-15 minutes long. Double appointments may be booked if patients wish to discuss more than one issue. Patients can book appointments online if they have previously registered to do so. Same-day urgent appointments are available. Video and Telephone consultations are available daily and the GPs also make home visits to see house-bound patients.
In addition to the extended hours operated by the practice, the CCG has commissioned an extended hours service, operating from 6.30pm until 8pm on weekdays and between 8am and 8pm at weekends and bank holidays at three sites across the borough. Appointments can be booked by patients contacting their own general practice. There is also a walk-in service available to all patients at a central location. The practice has opted out of providing an out of hours service. Patients calling the practice when it is closed are connected to the local out-of-hours service provider. There is information given about the out-of-hours service provided on the practice website.
Updated
6 September 2021
We carried out an announced comprehensive inspection at Covent Garden Medical Centre between 28th July- 3rd August 2021. Overall, the practice is rated as good.
Why we carried out this inspection
We carried out an inspection as the practice had a newly registered provider. This was the first inspection under the current registration.
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 Good overall.
We rated the practice as good for providing safe services because:
- The practice provided care and treatment in a way that kept patients safe and protected them from avoidable harm.
- There was safe and effective monitoring and management of patients that were prescribed high-risk medicine.
- There was safe and effective monitoring of patients on the child safeguarding register.
We rated the practice as requires improvement for providing effective services because:
- The practice’s performance under NHS Quality Outcomes Framework was below average for Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) and dementia.
- The practice’s uptake for childhood immunisation and cervical screening was also under the national targets.
- In addition, the practice’s prescribing rate for hypnotic and psychotropics medicines was higher than local and national averages.
We rated the practice as good for providing caring services because:
- Staff dealt with patients with kindness and respect and involved them in decisions about their care.
We rated the practice as good for providing responsive services because:
- The practice organised and delivered services to meet patients’ needs. Patients could access care and treatment in a timely way.
We rated the practice as good for providing well-led services because:
- Systems and processes had been established and operated effectively to ensure compliance with requirements to demonstrate good governance and safe care and treatment.
Population Groups
- We rated older people and people whose circumstances may make them vulnerable as good.
- We rated people with long-term conditions as requires improvement because of poor performance for patients with COPD.
- We rated families, children and young people as requires improvement because the practice has not met the WHO based national target of 95% (the recommended standard for achieving herd immunity) for five of five childhood immunisation uptake indicators.
- We rated working age people as requires improvement as the practice had not met the 80% national uptake target for cervical screening.
- We rated people experiencing poor mental health (including people with dementia) as requires improvement as performance as QOF performance for patients with dementia was below local and national averages. In addition, the practice had a higher than average prescribing rate for hypnotic and psychotropics medicines, these are medicines prescribed to patients experiencing poor mental health.
The provider should:
- Continue with efforts to improve the care for patients with COPD and dementia.
- Continue with efforts to improve the uptake of cervical screening and childhood immunisations.
- Continue with efforts to reduce the prescribing of hypnotic and psychotropics medicines.
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