5 January 2024
During an inspection looking at part of the service
We undertook a targeted assessment of the responsive key question at Bexley Group Practice. The rating for the responsive key question is Requires Improvement. As the other key questions were not reviewed during this assessment, the rating of good will be carried forward from the previous inspection and the overall rating of the service will remain Good.
Safe - not inspected, rating of good carried forward from previous inspection.
Effective - not inspected, rating of good carried forward from previous inspection.
Caring - not inspected, rating of good carried forward from previous inspection.
Responsive - requires improvement.
Well-led - not inspected, rating of good carried forward from previous inspection.
During the inspection process, the practice highlighted efforts they were making to improve access for their population. These had only recently been implemented so the effect of these efforts is not yet reflected in verified outcomes data. As such, the ratings for this inspection have not been impacted. However, we continue to monitor the data and where we see potential changes, we will follow these up with the practice.
Following our previous inspection on 20 March 2019 the practice was rated good overall and for all key questions.
The full reports for previous inspections can be found by selecting the ‘all reports’ link for Bexley Group Practice on our website at www.cqc.org.uk
Why we carried out this assessment
We carried out a targeted assessment of the responsive key question. Targeted assessments enable us to focus on certain key questions to explore particular aspects of care.
How we carried out the assessment
This assessment was carried out without a site visit
This included:
- Conducting staff interviews using video conferencing.
- Requesting evidence from the provider.
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 found that:
- The practice recognised and organised services to support patient’s needs.
- Complaints were used to drive improvement
- Patients reported difficulty accessing the practice by telephone and were not always satisfied with the practice’s appointment times, the appointments offered or the experience of making an appointment.
- The practice had responded to patient feedback in the GP patient survey by introducing a new telephone system. However, the effects of these efforts were not yet reflected in verified outcome data.
Whilst we found no breaches of regulations, the provider should:
- Continue to collect patient feedback and take steps to improve access for all patients.
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 Health Care