Tottenham GP surgery 'requires improvement' say inspectors

Care Quality Commission warns Tottenham Health Centre lacks “effective governance processes”, reports Grace Howarth, Local Democracy Reporter

A Tottenham GP surgery has been downgraded from ‘good’ to ‘requires improvement’ following an inspection.

The Care Quality Commission (CQC) has rated Tottenham Health Centre, situated at 759 Tottenham High Road, as needing to improve provision of safe, effective and well-led services.

CQC’s report highlighted that in the last inspection, in 2022, in which the centre was rated ‘good’ overall, staff were found to not always have the appropriate level of safeguarding training.

In July 2024 concerns were raised again about safeguarding matters “not being identified and actioned in a timely manner” leading to a ‘responsive inspection’ in October.

In this latest inspection, the issues highlighted in the 2022 inspection were deemed as having been “addressed appropriately”.

However, CQC stated it had “identified new concerns regarding the safe and appropriate management of medicine and lack of good governance”.

The report found staff were not always providing safe care because the provider hadn’t kept up to date with the “best practice guidelines” when it came to the monitoring and administration of high-risk medicines.

In terms of effective care, patients’ care and treatment was not always provided in line with “evidence-based guidance” and staff were told to improve the systems and processes they used to monitor patients with long-term conditions.

Despite staff feedback being positive and recognisable improvements being made to the practice the CQC stated the centre did not always have “effective governance processes for identifying and managing all risks, issues and performance”.

CQC did rate the centre’s care and responsive services as ‘good’ with the watchdog stating staff treated people “equally and without discrimination”.

It reported that leaders looked for ways to address barriers to improving people’s experience and worked with local organisations to address any health inequalities.

Reacting to the rating, NHS North Central London Integrated Care Board (NCL ICB), said: “As the NHS body overseeing healthcare in Haringey, NCL ICB will work closely with Tottenham Health Centre on their plans to address the issues raised following the recent rating by the CQC.

“Progress on these actions will be reported back to a meeting of NCL ICB’s primary care contracting committee.

“Our main priority is to ensure the provision of high quality, safe and accessible services for local people and GP practice services will continue uninterrupted.

“As with all providers, we continue to monitor the delivery of services to ensure local residents receive high-quality care and that providers meet the strict standards and regulations that apply.”

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