Letter from the Chief Inspector of General Practice

We carried out an announced comprehensive inspection at Burbury Medical Centre on 21 July 2016. The overall rating for the practice was requires improvement. The full comprehensive report on the July 2016 inspection can be found by selecting the ‘all reports’ link for Burbury Medical Centre on our website at www.cqc.org.uk.

This inspection was an announced focused inspection carried out on 22 June 2017 to confirm that the practice had carried out their plan to improve in areas that we identified in our previous inspection on 21 July 2016. This report covers our findings in relation to these improvements made since our last inspection.

Overall the practice is now rated as good.

Our key findings were as follows:

• During our previous inspection data from the July 2016 national GP patient survey showed patients rated the practice below others for some aspects of care. The practice was able to demonstrate actions they were taking to improve in the areas identified. An internal survey carried out by the practice demonstrated positive feedback from patients.

• When we inspected the practice in July 2016 we saw the practice had identified 18 carers (0.5% of the list size). We asked the practice to review their systems and processes to ensure more carers were identified so that they could be offered appropriate support. At this follow up inspection data we looked at showed 65 carers (2% of the practice list size) had been identified.

• At our July 2016 inspection, we saw that the practice had carried out an equality access audit in April 2016. The audit identified that a hearing loop was required but this had not been actioned. At this follow up inspection, we saw that a hearing loop had been purchased.

However, the practice should:

• Ensure the introduction of Saturday morning opening arrangement is reflected on the practice website.
• Ensure patients are informed that they could to be seen before 9.30am at another surgery as part of the collaborative working arrangement.

Consider conducting a patient survey specifically to monitor satisfaction in relation to opening hours in view to making further improvements.  

Professor Steve Field (CBE FRCP FFPH FRCGP) 

Chief Inspector of General Practice

Letter from the Chief Inspector of General Practice

We carried out an announced comprehensive inspection at Burbury Medical Centre on 21 July 2016. The overall rating for the practice was requires improvement. The full comprehensive report on the July 2016 inspection can be found by selecting the ‘all reports’ link for Burbury Medical Centre on our website at www.cqc.org.uk.

This inspection was an announced focused inspection carried out on 22 June 2017 to confirm that the practice had carried out their plan to improve in areas that we identified in our previous inspection on 21 July 2016. This report covers our findings in relation to these improvements made since our last inspection.

Overall the practice is now rated as good.

Our key findings were as follows:

• During our previous inspection data from the July 2016 national GP patient survey showed patients rated the practice below others for some aspects of care. The practice was able to demonstrate actions they were taking to improve in the areas identified. An internal survey carried out by the practice demonstrated positive feedback from patients.

• When we inspected the practice in July 2016 we saw the practice had identified 18 carers (0.5% of the list size). We asked the practice to review their systems and processes to ensure more carers were identified so that they could be offered appropriate support. At this follow up inspection data we looked at showed 65 carers (2% of the practice list size) had been identified.

• At our July 2016 inspection, we saw that the practice had carried out an equality access audit in April 2016. The audit identified that a hearing loop was required but this had not been actioned. At this follow up inspection, we saw that a hearing loop had been purchased.

However, the practice should:

• Ensure the introduction of Saturday morning opening arrangement is reflected on the practice website.
• Ensure patients are informed that they could to be seen before 9.30am at another surgery as part of the collaborative working arrangement.

Consider conducting a patient survey specifically to monitor satisfaction in relation to opening hours in view to making further improvements.  

Professor Steve Field (CBE FRCP FFPH FRCGP) 

Chief Inspector of General Practice

We previously inspected Dr Alam surgery on 1 August 2013. We found that improvements were required and asked the provider to submit an action plan outlining how they intended to address the issues we had identified.

At this inspection visit we looked to see what improvements had been made. We met and spoke with two GP partners, an assistant practice manager and two reception staff. We also spoke with six patients so that we could get their views in regards to the service provided. We were unable to speak with the senior GP partner and the practice manager because they were away on leave.

We saw that improvements had been in relation to care and welfare of patients. The on-going building work to the surgery we saw at the last inspection had been completed and risk assessments were in place to protect patients.

We saw that some improvements were made to the recruitment process, however we identified that further improvements were required.

There saw that there were opportunities for patients to feedback on the quality of the care provided so that areas for further improvement could be identified.

We visited the surgery to establish that the needs of people using the service were being met. On the day of the inspection we spoke with four staff members, three GPs and the practice manager. We also spoke with six patients and one person who was accompanying their parent to an appointment. The people we spoke with had mixed views about the treatment they had received. One patient we spoke with said: “I’m happy with the service, the doctors are really good and respectful here”. Another patient said: “He (the GP) can be very rude sometimes when you are telling your problem. Sometimes he’s very kind, sometimes he ignores you, most of the time he ignores you, he doesn’t bother”. Similarly another patient when asked if care met their needs told us “alright, but could do with more care, I want them to check me properly”.

We saw evidence that there was on-going building work at the surgery. We looked at how risk had been managed at the premises and found that robust risk management and identification systems were not in place. This meant that people were not protected against the risks of unsafe premises.

We found that there were inadequate recruitment processes in place. This meant that patients were not fully protected from risks of unsuitable people providing care.

We reviewed complaints and noted that the complaints process had not been followed. This meant that patients could not be confident that their views were listened to.