Cedars Medical Group

We carried out an announced comprehensive inspection at Cedars Medical Group on 13 February 2019 as part of our inspection programme (previous inspection August 2015 – good).

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 and good for all population groups, except working age people and families, children and young people, which we rated as outstanding.

We rated the practice as outstanding for providing effective services for working age people because:

• Highly effective arrangements were in place to encourage patients to attend health screening, including for cervical cancer. Staff took every opportunity when speaking with patients to advise them on the importance of screening. The practice’s cervical screening uptake rate was well above the target of 80%; the rate was the fifth highest nationally.

We rated the practice as outstanding for providing responsive services for families, children and young people because:

• The practice had considered and responded to the needs of young people; there were dedicated on the day appointments for under 16s and teenagers every day. Staff had undertaken a training course on adolescents, had sought advice from a local adolescent charity and carried out a survey with a local high school. They then acted on a number of suggestions. The practice offered a half-day session for nursery children; to help them become familiar with the building and the team.

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 dealt with patients with kindness and respect and involved them in decisions about their care.
• The practice organised and delivered services to meet patients’ needs. Patients could access care and treatment in a timely way.
• 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:

• Improve arrangements to provide assurance that relevant patient safety alerts have been identified, distributed to the right people, a decision made on which need actioned and any action taken recorded.
• Review their arrangements for ensuring that staff have received the relevant vaccinations.
• Implement a system to enable the monitoring of the distribution of blank prescriptions throughout the practice.
• Put systems in place to enable managers to monitor staff training.

Details of our findings and the evidence supporting our ratings are set out in the evidence tables.

Professor Steve Field CBE FRCP FFPH FRCGPChief Inspector of General Practice