Background to this inspection
Updated
18 September 2018
Woodcroft Medical Practice is based in Burnt Oak, London Borough of Barnet. Although registered separately with CQC it is a branch location of Mulberry Practice which has a patient list of approximately 9,800 (including a second branch location: Willow Court Surgery Surgery).
Twenty three percent of patients are aged under 18 (compared to the national practice average of 21%) and 12% are 65 or older (compared to the national practice average of 17%). Fifty three percent of patients have a long-standing health condition. The services provided by the practice include child health care, ante and post natal care, immunisations, sexual health and contraception advice; and management of long term conditions.
The practice holds a General Medical Services contract with NHS England. The staff team comprises two partner GPs (one male, one female), two female salaried GPs, a female practice nurse, a female pharmacist, a practice manager and a team of administrative staff.
The practice’s opening hours are:
• Monday- Friday: 8:15am-1:00pm and 2:00pm-6:30pm
The practice offers extended hours opening at the following times:
• Wednesday: 6:30pm – 8:30pm
Outside of these times, cover is provided by an out of hours provider.
The practice is registered to provide the following regulated activities which we inspected:
Diagnostic and screening procedures; Maternity and midwifery services; and Treatment of disease, disorder or injury.
This location has not been inspected before. The previously registered and inspected service at this location, Woodcroft Medical Centre, was taken on by the current provider Mulberry Practice on a caretaker basis on 1 January 2017.
Updated
18 September 2018
This practice is rated as Good overall.
The key questions at this inspection are rated as:
Are services safe? – Requires Improvement
Are services effective? – Good
Are services caring? – Good
Are services responsive? – Good
Are services well-led? - Good
We carried out an announced comprehensive inspection at Woodcroft Medical Practice on 12 July 2018, as part of our inspection programme.
The previously registered and inspected service at this location Woodcroft Medical Practice was taken on by the current provider Mulberry Practice on a caretaker basis on 1 January 2017.
The current location Woodcroft Medical Practice was registered in September 2017. In April 2018, following NHS England’s approval of a merger of the Woodcroft Medical Practice and Mulberry Medical Practice patient lists, the provider began the process of deregistering Woodcroft Medical Practice as a location, to align with its status as a branch location of Mulberry Medical Practice.
At this inspection we found:
- There were systems in place for sharing learning from incidents with all relevant staff; and for ensuring this learning improved safety.
- Although overall, the practice had systems to manage risk, we noted that risks associated with the Legionella bacterium (which can contaminate water systems in buildings) and associated with cervical screening uptake were not proactively managed.
- 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.
- Staff involved and treated patients with compassion, kindness, dignity and respect.
- Patients fed back that the appointment system was easy to use and that they were able to access care when they needed it.
The areas where the provider should make improvements are:
- Take action to ensure that periodic Legionella water sample testing is undertaken.
- Take action to monitor its new protocol for monitoring and prescribing high risk medicines.
- Review the system for identifying how carers are identified.
- Continue to monitor and take action to improve national GP patient survey satisfaction regarding access to care and treatment; and staff interaction.
- Continue to monitor and take action to improve patient outcomes regarding diabetes, cervical screening uptake and childhood immunisations.
- Take action to monitor its new cervical screening ‘failsafe’ system for identifying where a result has not been logged.
- Take action to ensure that the Infection Prevention and Control lead receives training in their role.
Professor Steve Field CBE FRCP FFPH FRCGP
Chief Inspector of General Practice
Please refer to the detailed report and the evidence tables for further information.