We carried out an announced comprehensive inspection at Belgrave Medical Centre on 15 March 2019 as part of our inspection programme.

We based our judgement of the quality of care at this service on a combination of:

•what we found when we inspected

•information from our ongoing monitoring of data about services and

•information from the provider, patients, the public and other organisations.

We have rated this practice as good overall and in all population groups.

We found that:

• The practice provided care in a way that kept patients safe and protected them from avoidable harm.
• Monitoring of the prescribing competence of nurse prescribers was opportunistic.
• Patients received effective care and treatment that met their needs.
• There were protocols to support non-clinical staff if they encountered a deteriorating or acutely unwell patient, for example sepsis. However, non-clinical staff had not received formal training in sepsis.
• Staff dealt with patients with kindness and respect and involved them in decisions about their care.
• The practice had only identified 0.5% of the practice as carers.
• The practice organised and delivered services to meet patients’ needs. Patients could access care and treatment in a timely way.
• The way the practice was led and managed drove continuous improvement and innovation in the delivery of high-quality care.

We found one area of outstanding practice:

• The practice had established a practice fund, funded by the private work carried out by the GP partners, to support local community groups. Local groups were encouraged to bid for money from the fund, up to £500, to support their work. In the previous 12 months the fund had provided finance to two projects. ‘The Pink Ladies’, a breast cancer support group, working with the local hospital, to provide ongoing support for women diagnosed with breast cancer. They had also provided financial support to a local nursery to purchase additional play equipment.

Whilst we found no breaches of regulations, the provider should:

• Provide non-clinical staff with training in sepsis.
• Introduce a formal system for monitoring the prescribing competence of nurse prescribers.
• Identify ways to improve the identification of carers to enable this group of patients to access the care and support they need.

Details of our findings and the evidence supporting our ratings are set out in the evidence tables.

Dr Rosie Benneyworth BS BM BMedSci MRCGP

Chief Inspector of Primary Medical Services and Integrated Care

Letter from the Chief Inspector of General Practice

We inspected Dr Rao and Partners (Belgrave Medical Centre) on 21 November 2014 as part of our new comprehensive inspection programme.

We looked at the how well the practice provided care for specific groups of patients. These included older people, people with long term conditions, families children and young people, people of working age (including those recently retired and students, patients living in vulnerable circumstances and people experiencing poor mental health (including dementia).

Our method of inspection focuses on the care patients receive under five domains of Safe, Effective, Caring, Responsive and Well led. The rating in all domains and overall rating for this service is good.

Our key finding were as follows:

• Patients were highly positive about telephone access to the practice and the availability of both urgent and routine GP appointments.
• The practice had robust, effective systems in place to protect the safety of patients and to learn by reflection.
• The practice had good facilities and was well equipped to treat patients and meet their needs.
• Patients said they were treated with compassion, dignity and respect and they were involved in their care and decisions about their treatment.
• There was a clear culture of openness. Staff used every opportunity to learn from internal and external incidents which improved patient outcomes.
• The practice took opportunities to secure locally available funding to provide extra services for their patients. This gave patients access to a greater range of services at the practice.

Professor Steve Field (CBE FRCP FFPH FRCGP) 

Chief Inspector of General Practice