Tooting South Medical Centre

Updated 8 April 2022

Tooting South Medical Centre is located in London at:

22 Otterburn Street

Tooting

London

SW17 9HQ

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

The practice is situated within the South West London Clinical Commissioning Group (CCG) and delivers Personal Medical Services (PMS) to a patient population of about 10,300. This is part of a contract held with NHS England. Tooting South Medical Centre is part of Balham, Tooting and Furzedown Primary Care Network (PCN).

Information published by Public Health England shows that deprivation within the practice population group is in the seventh highest decile (seven 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 50% White, 25% Asian, 16% Black, 5% Mixed, and 4% Other.

The practice’s clinical team consists of four GP partners, one salaried GPs, three nurses, a HCA and a phlebotomist. The GPs are supported at the practice by a managing partner who is also the practice manager, a deputy practice manager and a team of reception/administration staff of 16.

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 an appointment at the surgery.

Extended access is provided by the surgery, where late evening and weekend appointments are available. Out of hours services are provided by NHS 111.

Updated 8 April 2022

We carried out an announced inspection at Tooting South Medical Centre on 23 February 2022. Overall, the practice is rated as good.

Ratings for each key question:

Safe - Good

Effective - Good

Caring - Good

Responsive - Good

Well-led - Good

Following our previous inspection on 25 May 2021, the practice was rated requires improvement overall and requires improvement for all questions, except for effective, which was rated inadequate.

The full reports for previous inspections can be found by selecting the ‘all reports’ link for Tooting South Medical Centre on our website at www.cqc.org.uk

Why we carried out this inspection

This was a comprehensive inspection to follow up on the breaches of Regulation 17 Good governance. At the previous inspection we found:

• The provider had not established effective systems and processes to ensure good governance in accordance with the fundamental standards of care.
• The provider had not done all that was reasonably practicable to mitigate risks to the health and safety of service users receiving care and treatment.
• The provider had failed to assess, monitor and improve the quality and safety of the services being provided.

We also followed up on areas we identified the practice should improve at the last inspection. Specifically:

• Continue efforts to improve patient satisfaction regarding access, how long patients wait on the phone to get through to the practice, and to involve patients in decisions about their care and treatment.
• Continue efforts to identify carers.
• Continue to take action to improve uptake of childhood immunisations and cervical screening.
• Continue to ensure that all staff have protected time for learning and development.

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 and good for all key questions.

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 adjusted how it delivered services to meet the needs of patients during the COVID-19 pandemic. 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:

• Continue to provide training to non-clinical staff to ensure they are aware of their roles with regards to patient test results.
• Continue to take action to improve uptake of childhood immunisations and cervical screening.
• Continue to take action to ensure patients feel involved in decisions made about their care and treatment.

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