Health Centre

Updated 27 July 2022

Health Centre is a NHS GP practice which operates from 574 Harrow Road, London, W10 4NJ. The practice is located on a main road in a residential and commercial area which is easily accessible by public transport. The practice has three consulting rooms located on the ground floor and the first floor.

The practice provides NHS primary care services to 2,076 patients and operates under a General Medical Services (GMS) contract (a contract between NHS England and general practices for delivering general medical services and is the commonest form of GP contract). The practice is part of NHS West London Clinical Commissioning Group (CCG). The practice is part of a wider network of GP practices called Inclusive Health Primary Care Network (PCN). There are six other practices in the network.

The practice is registered as a partnership with the Care Quality Commission (CQC) to provide the regulated activities of diagnostic and screening procedures, treatment of disease, disorder or injury, maternity and midwifery services and surgical procedures.

The practice partnership is comprised of a male and female GP who both worked full time (nine sessions a week). There is also an advanced nurse practitioner who is also the practice deputy manager, a part-time practice nurse and a full -time practice manager. The clinical team are supported by three receptionists and an administrator.

The practice is open between 8am and 7pm Monday to Friday, except Thursday when they close at 6.30pm. Appointments are available Monday to Friday between 8.30am and 12pm and 4pm to 7pm apart from Thursday when there was no afternoon clinic.

The practice refers patients to the London Central & West Unscheduled Care Collaborative Out of Hours and NHS 111 service for healthcare advice outside of the practice operating hours.

Information published by Public Health England rates the level of deprivation within the practice population group as three on a scale of one to ten. Level one represents the highest levels of deprivation and level ten the lowest. According to the latest available data, the ethnic make-up of the practice area is 47% White, 18% Asian, 18% Black, 10% other, and 7% mixed.

The age distribution of the practice population showed a lower than average number of patients aged 20 to 49 years and a higher than average number of patients aged 50 years and above.

Updated 27 July 2022

We carried out an announced inspection at Health Centre on 24 May 2022. Overall, the practice is rated as requires improvement.

Safe - Requires improvement

Effective – Requires improvement

Caring - Good

Responsive - Good

Well-led - Good

This is the provider’s first inspection under its current registration with the Care Quality Commission. The practice was previously registered under a different provider which was an individual provider. It was now registered as a partnership.

Why we carried out this inspection

This inspection was a comprehensive inspection in which we looked at all five key questions.

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 Requires Improvement overall

We found that:

• The practice did not always provide care in a way that kept patients safe and protected them from avoidable harm.
• Patients did not always receive 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-centred care.

We found one breach of regulations. The provider must:

• Ensure care and treatment is provided in a safe way to patients.

We have also said the provider should:

• Review and improve the minuting of practice meetings to ensure discussions around safeguarding are routine and communicated with all staff.
• Review and improve prescribing practice to reduce antibiotic prescribing and improve the uptake of childhood immunisations and cervical screening.
• Review and improve quality improvement activity to ensure this is carried out in a structured and coordinated manner.
• Review and improve governance and oversight of remote services.

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