Letter from the Chief Inspector of General Practice

This is the report from our inspection of Dr Prasad’s practice. Dr Prasad’s practice is registered with the Care Quality Commission to provide primary care services.

We undertook a planned, comprehensive inspection on the 7 October 2014 at the practice location Dr Prasad’s practice (also known as St James’ Health Centre). We reviewed information we held about the practice and spoke with patients, GPs, staff and community and health care professionals involved with the practice.

The practice was rated as Good overall. There were some elements of the practice that could be improved but the practice provided good care to the population it served.

Our key findings were as follows:

• There were systems in place to mitigate safety risks. The premises were clean and tidy. Systems were in place to ensure medication including vaccines were appropriately stored and in date.

• The practice was effective. Patients had their needs assessed in line with current guidance and the practice promoted health education to empower patients to live healthier lives.

• The practice was caring. Feedback from patients and observations throughout our inspection highlighted the practice staff were kind, caring and helpful.

• The practice was responsive. The practice served a diverse community and had worked towards ensuring people from all backgrounds had access to the health education and treatment by involving other local support teams. Translation services were available and some of the GPs spoke a variety of languages such as Chinese and Hindi. The practice acknowledged that patients may sometimes have had difficulty in making appointments due to high demand and had introduced ways of combating this such as an online appointment booking service.

• The practice was well led. The practice management team placed a strong emphasis on the training of the staff.

However, there were also areas of practice where the provider needs to make improvements. 

The provider should consider the following:

• The practice had a complaints policy however; this did not contain information regarding a time frame in which patients would be responded to. Information regarding how to make a complaint was available in the practice leaflet but could be readily on display in the waiting room.
• Staff received annual appraisals, however the appraisal for the practice manager was overdue and the practice should ensure this is undertaken.
• Have a system in place for checking clinician’s annual professional registration status.
• Update the practice’s website to ensure all information is up to date, in particular with reference to the services and staff available.

Professor Steve Field (CBE FRCP FFPH FRCGP) 

Chief Inspector of General Practice