• Doctor
  • GP practice

Barnsbury Medical Practice

Overall: Good read more about inspection ratings

8 Bingfield Street, London, N1 0AL (020) 7700 9700

Provided and run by:
Islington GP Group Limited

Latest inspection summary

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Background to this inspection

Updated 17 February 2023

Barnsbury Medical Practice (the practice) is operated by Islington GP Group Limited (the provider) at 8 Bingfield Street, London N1 0AL. The location is a purpose-built healthcare facility - Bingfield Primary Care Centre – run by the local NHS Trust, which the practice shares with a number of other services. These include the local community gynaecology service, which is also operated by the provider.

The provider is registered with CQC to deliver the Regulated Activities; diagnostic and screening procedures, family planning, maternity and midwifery services and treatment of disease, disorder or injury in relation to the practice.

The provider operates the practice under caretaking arrangement with the service commissioner, the North Central London Integrated Care System (ICS), not under a standard medical services contract. The arrangement commenced in January 2021 and runs until December 2023.

The practice is part of a network, the South Islington Primary Care Network (PCN) made up of seven local practices, sharing some resources and staff.

The practice provides services to approximately 4,300 patients. Information published by Office for Health Improvement and Disparities shows that deprivation within the practice population group is in the third lowest decile (third of 10). The lower the decile, the more deprived the practice population is relative to others. According to the latest available data, the ethnic make-up of the practice area is approximately 61% White; 14% Asian, 14% Black, 6% Mixed, and 4% Other. The practice has more working age patients than the local and national averages, with fewer younger and older people.

The clinical team is made up of six GPs (four female, two male), three of whom work remotely. There is a bank or regular locums, used to cover when necessary. There are two practice nurses, one working remotely and a trainee nurse; a trainee nurse associate; a healthcare assistant / administrator. Another nurse is due to start at the practice in February 2023. The practice shares two clinical pharmacists and a paramedic with the other practices within the PCN.

The administrative team consists of an acting practice manager, who at the time of the inspection was supported by the provider’s Operations Manager and its Network & Infrastructure Manager; and five administrator / receptionists. More recruitment is ongoing.

The practice is open between 8:00am and 6:30pm Monday to Friday, with appointments available throughout the day. The practice offers a range of appointment types including book on the day, telephone consultations and advance appointments. Appointment requests from patients are triaged by a duty clinician to assess if a face-to-face consultation is necessary.

An extended access service is provided at three locations in the borough, where late evening and weekend appointments are available. These operate from 6:30pm - 8:00pm, Monday to Friday; 9:00am - 8:00pm on Saturdays; and 8:00am – 8:00pm Sundays and public holidays. Service appointments can be booked by contacting the practice.

The out of hours services can be contacted by telephoning NHS111.

Overall inspection

Good

Updated 17 February 2023

We carried out an announced comprehensive inspection of the Barnsbury Medical Practice, operated by Islington GP Group Limited, which included a site visit on 25 January 2023. Our previous inspections of the service had been when it was operated by another provider.

Overall, the service is rated as

Safe - Good

Effective - Good

Caring - Good

Responsive - Good

Well-led - Outstanding

Why we carried out this inspection

We carried out this inspection in line with our inspection priorities, to assess the quality of the service provided, following registration in May 2021.

How we carried out the inspection

This inspection was carried out in a way which enabled us to spend a minimum amount of time on site.

This included:

  • Conducting staff interviews using video conferencing.
  • Completing clinical searches on the practice’s patient records system (this was with consent from the provider and in line with all data protection and information governance requirements).
  • Reviewing patient records to identify issues and clarify actions taken by the provider.
  • Requesting evidence from the provider.
  • Obtaining confidential feedback from patients and staff members.
  • 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 found that:

  • The practice provided care in a way that kept patients safe and protected them from avoidable harm.
  • Patients had good outcomes because they received effective care and treatment that met their needs.
  • Patients were supported, treated with dignity and respect and were involved in decisions about their care.
  • Patients’ needs were met by the way services were organised and delivered.
  • The leadership, governance and culture were used to drive and improve the delivery of high-quality, person-centred care. Much work had been done by the practice. Systems and processes had been reviewed and changes implemented; and patient records had been reviewed to ensure Safe and Effective care was being provided. Improvement was evidenced by the results of the National GP Patient Survey and feedback we received from patients, particularly with regard to Caring and Responsive aspects of the service. Staff members were consistently positive about the practice culture, level of engagement and their job satisfaction.

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

  • Continue with work to improve the take up of childhood immunisations and cervical screening.

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 Hospitals and Interim Chief Inspector of Primary Medical Services