Islington Central Medical Centre

Updated 27 August 2019

Islington Community Ear Nose and Throat (ENT) Clinic is a community service managed by Islington GP Federation. The ENT clinic is provided across three sites from Monday to Friday with a total of seven clinical sessions available, by referral, for adults registered with an Islington GP, including temporary residents. This inspection took place at the ENT clinic based at Islington Central Medical Centre, a modern purpose-built health centre located at 28 Laycock Street, Islington, N1 1SW. Islington Central Medical Centre is situated within the Islington Clinical Commissioning Group. The referral only ENT clinics at Islington Central Medical Centre are held Tuesdays from 8.30am to 1pm and 2.30pm to 5.45pm and Thursdays from 8.30am to 1pm.

The ENT clinic at Islington Central Medical Centre is a one-stop assessment with rapid triage for patients in a setting closer to home. The clinic provides the following treatments: aural toilet, insertion of ear tampon, micro-suction of ear, removal of foreign body, nose procedures, nasal cautery and nasendoscopy. The provider, Islington GP Federation, also runs an extended hours GP and nursing service and a specialist community gynaecology service. The provider is registered with CQC to deliver the regulated activities of: Maternity and midwifery services; Surgical procedures; Diagnostic and screening procedures; Treatment of disease, disorder or injury.

The clinical team for the service is made up of three part-time GPs, all of whom have a special interest in ENT. The non-clinical team is made up of a full-time operations manager and two administrators.

Our inspection team was led by a Care Quality Commission (CQC) lead inspector. The team included a GP specialist advisor and a practice manager specialist advisor.

Updated 27 August 2019

This service is rated as Good overall.

The key questions at this inspection are rated as:

Are services safe? – Good

Are services effective? – Good

Are services caring? – Good

Are services responsive? – Good

Are services well-led? - Good

We carried out an announced comprehensive inspection of the Islington Community Ear Nose and Throat Clinic based at Islington Central Medical Centre on 18 June 2019 as part of our inspection programme.

At this inspection we found:

• The service had clear systems to manage risk so that safety incidents were less likely to happen. When incidents did happen, the service learned from them and improved their processes.
• The service routinely reviewed the effectiveness and appropriateness of the care it provided. It ensured care and treatment was delivered according to evidence-based guidelines.
• Staff treated patients with compassion, kindness, dignity and respect.
• Patients found the appointment system easy to use and reported they were able to access care when they needed it.
• There was a strong focus on continuous learning and improvement at all levels of the organisation.

Dr Rosie Benneyworth BM BS BMedSci MRCGP

Chief Inspector of Primary Medical Services and Integrated Care