Background to this inspection
Updated
15 October 2021
Highgrove Surgery is located within Barking Community Hospital at:
Barking Hospital
Upney Lane
Barking
IG11 9LX
The provider is registered with CQC to deliver the Regulated Activities; diagnostic and screening procedures, family planning, maternity and midwifery and treatment of disease, disorder or injury.
The practice is situated within the North East London Clinical Commissioning Group (CCG) and delivers General Medical Services (GMS) to a patient population of about 8353. This is part of a contract held with NHS England.
The practice is part of a wider network of GP practices.
Information published by Public Health England shows that deprivation within the practice population group is in the third lowest decile (three 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 61% White, 17% Black, 17% Asian, 4% Mixed.
There is a team of five GPs who provide cover at the practice. Two of the GPs are partners. Three of the GPs are long-term locums. There are 29 GP sessions offered at the practice each week. The practice has a team of nurses who provide 16 sessions per week. The GPs are supported at the practice by practice manager, deputy practice manager and a team of reception/administration staff.
Due to the enhanced infection prevention and control measures put in place since the pandemic and in line with the national guidance, most GP appointments were telephone consultations. If the GP needs to see a patient face-to-face then the patient is offered a consultation in the practice.
Extended access is provided locally by the hub, where late evening and weekend appointments are available. Out of hours services are provided by PELC.
Updated
15 October 2021
We carried out an announced focused inspection at Highgrove Surgery. This included off-site searches of their clinical system and GP interviews on 15 September 2021, a site visit to the practice on 23 September 2021 and off-site interview with the practice manager on 29 September 2021. Overall, the practice is rated as Good.
Safe - Good
Effective - Good
Caring - Good
Responsive - Good
Well-led - Good
Following our previous inspection on 5 February 2020, the practice was rated Requires Improvement overall and for Responsive and Well-led, Inadequate for Safe and Good for providing an Effective and Caring service.
The full reports for previous inspections can be found by selecting the ‘all reports’ link for Highgrove Surgery on our website at www.cqc.org.uk
Why we carried out this inspection:
This inspection was a focused inspection to follow up on the areas identified as requiring improvement at our last inspection. At this inspection the key questions Safe, Effective, Responsive and Well-led were inspected. At the previous inspection on 5 February 2020, Highgrove Surgery was issued a Warning Notice for a breach of Regulation 12 regarding Safe care and treatment of the Health and Social Care Act 2008 (Regulated Activities) Regulations 2014 and a Requirement Notice for a breach of Regulation 17 regarding Good governance. As a focused inspection, four key questions were reviewed to ensure that appropriate action had been taken by the provider, to meet the fundamental standards of health and social care. The key questions inspected included those rated as inadequate and requires improvement at the previous inspection, and Effective. The Caring key question has carried forward the Good rating from the previous inspection.
How we carried out the inspection:
Throughout the pandemic CQC has continued to regulate and respond to risk. However, taking into account the circumstances arising as a result of the pandemic, and in order to reduce risk, we have conducted our inspections differently.
This inspection was carried out in a way which enabled us to spend a minimum amount of time on site. This was with consent from the provider and in line with all data protection and information governance requirements.
This included:
- Conducting staff interviews using video conferencing.
- Completing clinical searches on the practice’s patient records system and discussing findings with the provider.
- Reviewing patient records to identify issues and clarify actions taken by the provider.
- Requesting evidence from the provider.
- 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 have rated this practice as Good overall, in all key questions and good for all population groups.
We found that:
- The practice provided care in a way that kept patients safe and protected them from avoidable harm.
- Patients received effective care and treatment that met their needs.
- Staff treated with patients with respect and involved them in decisions about their care.
- The practice adjusted how it delivered services to meet the needs of patients during the COVID-19 pandemic. However, access to the practice by telephone was an identified area of challenge.
- The way the practice was led and managed promoted the delivery of high-quality, person-centre care.
Whilst we found no breaches of regulations, the provider should:
- Continue to review and improve the patient’s overall experience of making an appointment and their level of satisfaction with the appointment (or appointments) offered to improve the patient experience as reflected in the GPPS.
- Continue to review and improve patient take up of childhood immunisations and cervical screening.
- Continue to review and improve the process for prescribing and auditing the use of anti-biotic medicine.
Details of our findings and the evidence supporting our ratings are set out in the evidence tables.
Dr Rosie Benneyworth BM BS BMedSci MRCGP
Chief Inspector of Primary Medical Services and Integrated Care