Enter and View: Cricklewood Health Centre and Walk-in Centre (follow-up visit)
Summary
After our original visits to this Centre, we made several recommendations that would improve the already efficient service provided at the Walk-in Centre.
Key findings
- Some obvious improvements were made to the internal of the Centre, such as the extra and unnecessary notices and leaflets removed and instead a tidy leaflet stand displayed important information.
- Patients are better informed about the process of registration and the waiting times expected.
- Major refurbishments to the premises resulted in extra consulting rooms and a more pleasant interior.
- Some actions were still under consultation but overall our team felt that the recommendations of the previous report within the control of the Health Centre Staff had or were being actively acted upon.
Since our last visit, Barnet and Brent CCGs are inviting people to give their views on a proposal to close the walk-in service at Cricklewood GP Health Centre. To learn more about this and Have your say on the future of Cricklewood walk-in service please see this link.
If both services are closed (with 3 months’ notice) concern was expressed about relocating patients on the GP list and where the patients using the ‘walk-in’ facilities would go and the implications for the staff.
To enable consultation to take place with patients and other stakeholders, including Healthwatch, the separate contracts for the NHS Walk-in-Centre service and the GP APMS contract for registered patients have been extended to 31 March 2020.
