Parchmore Medical Centre is the first GP practice in Croydon to achieve the Quality Practice Award from the Royal College of General Practitioners.

RCGP Chairman, Professor Steve Field, presented the practice with the Award in recognition that the practice offers a gold standard of service.

Commenting on the Award, Teresa Chapman, Chief Executive of Parchmore Medical Centre said “The whole team are delighted to have achieved this award as it is recognition of the high standard of care we strive to provide.

"Our practice is forward thinking and always seeking to improve services for patients with quality high on the agenda”

Professor Steve Field, RCGP Chairman, said: “We know Parchmore Medical Centre very well at the RCGP and it has been setting standards in Primary Care for sometime now.

The QPA is not an award that practices undertake lightly. "It takes around two years to achieve, working towards various sets of criteria to prove the practice is a beacon of quality care. It requires a lot of dedication and commitment from every member of the practice team and we are thrilled that Parchmore Medical Centre has achieved it. "Well done to the whole team and congratulations to the patients at the practice because you really have got an excellent standard of care.” [not yet approved] The 13,000 patients at Parchmore Medical Centre are looked after by a team of ten doctors, two nurse practitioners, four practice nurses and three healthcare assistants, supported by an administrative team of 18 full and part time staff. Several of the GPs and staff also speak different languages including Tamil, Polish, Urdu, French, Punjabi, Gujarati, Hindi, Somali and Russian. This helps them provide the best service possible to the diverse local population. GP Partner and Lead for the QPA project at Parchmore Medical Centre, Dr Shagufta Shaikh, said: “Like most GPs, I’m a firm believer in teamwork. My practice looks after a large and diverse patient population, and the team works extremely hard to prioritise a very heavy workload, all the while placing the needs of patients first.”

A full range of services are provided including specialist services such as Diabetes, Coronary Heart Disease, Rheumatology, Travel Clinic, Smoking Cessation, Anti-Coagulation, Contraceptive implants and coils and as part of the Croydon Federation several innovative services such as ultrasound scans are also offered.

Parchmore Medical Centre, past winners of other national awards, is a training practice and is strongly committed to teaching medical students from Guy’s, King’s and St Thomas’ Hospital and St George’s Medical School.

The modern purpose built premises have recently been refurbished to a high standard and a new wing on Beulah Road opened. The new wing provides an additional six state of the art consulting rooms, a fully equipped minor operations suite and a conference room also equipped with the latest audio and visual technology.

Tom Baterip, Chair of the Patient Participation Group said “My family and I have been patients with Parchmore Medical Centre for almost 20 years. We have always received very caring treatment. The facility of the new Beulah Wing will enable the Practice to offer a wider range of services to the patients and other users.”

The QPA plaque will be presented to the Parchmore Medical Centre team on Wednesday 29th September 2010 1pm-3pm by Professor Steve Field CBE FRCP FRCGP, Chairman of the Council, RCGP during the Grand Opening of the new Beulah Wing.