Letter from the Chief Inspector of General Practice

We carried out an announced comprehensive inspection at Dr Walji and Colleagues on 1 June 2016. Overall the practice is rated as good.

Our key findings were as follows:

• Staff understood and fulfilled their responsibilities to raise concerns and to report incidents and near misses. Information about safety was recorded, monitored, appropriately reviewed and addressed. The practice carried out an annual significant event audit to ensure learning from significant events was embedded.

• Patients’ needs were assessed and care was planned and delivered following best practice guidance. The GPs were leads in different areas and had weekly meetings to discuss concerns and share learning.

• There was a clear leadership structure and staff felt supported by the GPs and the practice manager. The practice proactively sought feedback from staff and patients which it acted on. There was a very pro-active Patient Participation Group (PPG) of which we met with four members during the inspection.

• The practice was aware of and complied with the requirements of the Duty of Candour.

• Risks to patients were assessed and well managed.

• Patients described staff as caring and helpful. Patients commented that they were treated with dignity and respect

• 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.

• 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.

• Staff had also attended education sessions in female genital mutilation (FGM) and Identification and Referral to Improve Safety (IRIS) which was domestic violence training.

We saw areas of outstanding practice:

• The practice had been involved in the Irish Project from 2000 onwards, which involved proactive outreach work in the local community to identify and target vulnerable patients for care and treatment. Initially this project was initiated by the Primary Care Trust (PCT) but the practice continued this as a voluntary project. As a result of this project 324 undiagnosed serious diseases were picked up by the practice such as COPD, depression, asthma, arthritis and cancer. The practice was then able to refer patients where this was needed and to start patients on the correct treatment such as having x-rays, blood tests, counselling and psychotherapy.

• Staff told us that there was a practice charity fund which was used to pay for help for patients where emergency support was needed, for example providing a bag of essential items for those requiring unexpected hospital admissions. Therefore when the practice became aware that patients might benefit from this the fund was used for this purpose.

• Staff told us about examples of when the GPs supported patients by paying for their taxis to get to hospital when an ambulance was not required.

However, there was an area of practice where the provider should make improvements:

The provider should:

• Consider documenting verbal complaints so that any trends can be identified and lessons learned.

Professor Steve Field (CBE FRCP FFPH FRCGP) 

Chief Inspector of General Practice

We reviewed the information available to us about Dr Mohamedtaki Walji on 22 May 2019. We did not find evidence of significant changes to the quality of service being provided since the last inspection. As a result, we decided not to inspect the surgery at this time. We will continue to monitor this information about this service throughout the year and may inspect the surgery when we see evidence of potential changes.