Hadlow Medical Centre

Background to this inspection

Updated 31 May 2017

Hadlow Medical Centre is situated in Hadlow, Kent and has a registered patient population of approximately 3,653. The practice population includes a larger than average proportion of people aged 15-19 who are students at the local college. There is also a larger than average proportion of people aged 45-55. The practice is located in an area with a lower than average deprivation score.

The practice staff consists of two part-time GP partners, one male and one female, and one part-time salaried GP (male). There is one practice manager and two part-time practice nurses (both female), as well as administration and reception staff.

The practice is situated in the centre of Hadlow, adjacent to the Parish Council offices, village hall and library, and close to the primary and nursery schools. All patient areas are on the ground floor and are accessible to patients with mobility issues, as well as parents with children and babies. There is limited parking for patients at the practice, including dedicated disabled parking. The practice is within easy access of public transport.

The practice is not a teaching or a training practice (teaching practices take medical students and training practices have GP trainees and F2 doctors).

The practice has a general medical services contract with NHS England for delivering primary care services to the local community.

The practice is open Monday to Friday between the hours of 8am and 6.30pm. Extended hours surgeries are not available at the practice.

There is a range of clinics for all age groups. There are arrangements with other providers (On Call Care) to deliver services to patients outside of the practice’s working hours.

The practice is a dispensing practice, providing pharmaceutical services to approximately 7% of its registered patients.

The practice did not have a registered manager. The inspection team had informed the practice that there had been no registered manager in post since April 2015 at the previous inspection on 26 May 2016. At the time of our visit, the practice was in the process of registering a manager in accordance with the CQC (Registration) Regulations 2009.

Services are provided from:

Hadlow Medical Centre, School Lane, Hadlow, Tonbridge, TN11 0ET.

Overall inspection

Good

Updated 31 May 2017

Letter from the Chief Inspector of General Practice

We carried out an announced comprehensive inspection at Hadlow Medical Centre on 26 May 2016. The overall rating for the practice was requires improvement. The practice was rated as requires improvement for providing safe, effective and well-led services and rated as good for providing caring and responsive services. The full comprehensive report on the June 2016 inspection can be found by selecting the ‘all reports’ link for Hadlow Medical Centre on our website at www.cqc.org.uk.

This inspection was an announced focused visit carried out on 20 April 2017 to confirm that the practice had carried out their plan to meet the legal requirements in relation to the breaches in regulations that we identified in our previous inspection on 26 May 2016. This report covers our findings in relation to those requirements and also additional improvements made since our last inspection.

Overall the practice is now rated as good.

Our key findings were as follows:

The practice had systems and processes to assess and manage the risks of infection, including infection control audit and training, and the control of legionella.
The practice had effective systems and processes to ensure the safe management of medicines.
The practice had a programme of clinical audit and ensured that results of audits led to improvements for patients.
There was an induction programme for newly appointed staff and staff had received mandatory training, including safeguarding, appropriate to their roles.
There was an overarching governance framework which included regular audits, to monitor and improve quality and identify risk.
There was a clear leadership structure and staff felt supported by management. However, there was no formal, documented business plan for the practice. The practice had identified a registered manager and were in the process of making applications through the CQC registration process.

However, there were areas of practice where the provider still needs to make improvements.

The provider should:

Continue with their plans for refurbishment of the practice including upgrading the clinical hand wash basins to comply with Department of Health guidelines.
Consider developing a formal documented business plan for the practice.
Complete the CQC process to register a manager for the practice.

Professor Steve Field (CBE FRCP FFPH FRCGP)

Chief Inspector of General Practice