Fitzrovia Medical Centre

We carried out an announced focused assessment at Fitzrovia Medical Centre on 24 November 2023 and practice is now rated requires improvement for providing responsive services to patients. Overall, the practice remains rated as 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

Following our previous inspection on 11 May 2022 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 Fitzrovia Medical Centre on our website at www.cqc.org.uk

Why we carried out this inspection

We carried out this assessment as part of our work to understand how practices are working to try to meet demand for access and to better understand the experiences of people who use services and providers.

We recognise the work that GP practices have been engaged in to continue to provide safe, quality care to the people they serve. We know colleagues are doing this while demand for general practice remains exceptionally high, with more appointments being provided than ever. In this challenging context, access to general practice remains a concern for people. Our strategy makes a commitment to deliver regulation driven by people’s needs and experiences of care. These assessments of the responsive key question include looking at what practices are doing innovatively to improve patient access to primary care and sharing this information to drive improvement.

How we carried out the review

This assessment was carried out remotely. It did not include a site visit.

The process included:

• Conducting an interview with the provider and members of staff using video conferencing.

• Reviewing patient feedback from a range of sources

• Requesting evidence from the provider.

• Reviewing data we hold about the service

• Seeking information/feedback from relevant stakeholders

Our findings

We based our judgement of the responsive key question on a combination of:

• what we found when we met with the provider

• information from our ongoing monitoring of data about services and

• information from the provider, patients, the public and other organisations.

We found that:

• During the assessment process, the provider highlighted the actions they have taken to make improvements to the responsiveness of the service for their patient population. They also identified the areas to be put in place to continue this improvement.

• Patient feedback was that they were satisfied with the arrangement for getting through to the practice by phone. Patient experience of obtaining an appointment and with appointment times offered was marginally lower than the England average. Patient feedback regarding satisfaction with the appointment offered was lower than the England average. The practice were aware of this and monitoring on an ongoing basis to ensure improvements.

• The practice was aware of the needs of the local population and was taking action to address these.

• The practice worked collaboratively with its primary care network to ensure additional types

of appointments and extended hours were available.

• The practice dealt with complaints in a timely manner and learned from them.

Whilst we found no breaches of regulation, the provider should:

• Continue to monitor and audit patient feedback to improve patient responses in the national GP patient survey.

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