Letter from the Chief Inspector of General Practice

We carried out an announced comprehensive inspection at Dr Bharathi Chowdary Chaparala's practice, on 14 April 2016. Overall the practice is rated as good.

Our key findings across all the areas we inspected were as follows:

• Risks to patients were assessed and well managed. Patients’ needs were assessed and care was planned and delivered following best practice guidelines. The practice had clearly defined and embedded system, processes and practices in place to keep people safe and safeguarded from abuse.

• The practice was proactive in identifying and managing significant events and all opportunities for learning was maximised.

• Patients said they were treated with compassion, dignity and respect and they were involved in their care and decisions about their treatment.

• Clinical audits were carried out to demonstrate quality improvement and to improve patient care and treatment.

• The practice had a regular programme of practice meetings and there was an overarching governance framework which supported the delivery of the practices vision and strategy and good quality care.

• There was a clear leadership structure and staff felt supported by management. The practice proactively sought feedback from staff and patients, which it acted on

• Staff had been trained to provide them with the skills, knowledge and experience to deliver effective care and treatment.

• Information about services and how to complain was available and easy to understand. Improvements were made to the quality of care as a result of complaints and concerns.

• The provider was aware of and complied with the requirements of the duty of candour

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• Patients said they found it easy to make an appointment with a named GP and there was continuity of care, with urgent appointments available the same day.

• The practice had good facilities and was well equipped to treat patients and meet their needs.

We saw some areas of outstanding practice:

• Sixty per cent of patients registered at the practice do not speak English as their main language. The practice had agreed with the CCG that they would register all asylum seekers and refugees in the area. To ensure that these patients could be seen promptly interpreters were available in the practice Mondays to Fridays 9am to 1pm and 4.30pm to 6.30pm. The interpreters spoke a number of languages to support the local population, for example polish, Punjabi, Mirpuri, Urdu and Hindu. The interpreters provided support during consultations, booking appointments, completing forms and arranging screening. The availability of interpreters enabled improved management of urgent same day appointments.

• The practice had set up language specific patient participation groups. The polish group had been active for six months and was well attended. Dates and been set for the other groups, the Punjabi community group was meeting on 12 may 2016 and the Romanian community group meeting was planned for July/ August 2016. This initiative allowed these patients to have involvement in the development of the practice. As two of the groups had recently been established the practice had not arranged any joint meetings.

Professor Steve Field (CBE FRCP FFPH FRCGP) 

Chief Inspector of General Practice

We spoke with five patients, the lead GP (provider), the deputy practice manager who was also the healthcare assistant, a receptionist and the practice manager. All of the patients we spoke with were pleased with the service they received from the practice. One patient said: “Great, everybody is nice and friendly. We are well received and well respected”.

We found that care and treatment was planned and delivered in a way that met patients’ needs and protected their rights. Patients we spoke with told us they were happy with the level of care they had received.

Staff had received training in safeguarding to protect vulnerable adults and children. Appropriate guidance was available for staff to follow if abuse was suspected.

Staff we spoke with told is they were supported to deliver care to an appropriate standard.

We found that the practice had appropriate internal audit systems in place to monitor and improve the quality of the service it provided.