Letter from the Chief Inspector of General Practice

We carried out an announced comprehensive inspection at Dr Rana Chowdhury on 11 January 2017. The overall rating for the practice was inadequate and the practice was placed in special measures for a period of six months. The full comprehensive report on the January 2017 inspection can be found by selecting the ‘all reports’ link for Dr Rana Chowdhury on our website at www.cqc.org.uk.

This inspection was undertaken following the period of special measures and was an announced comprehensive inspection on 18 October 2017. Overall the practice is now 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. The practice learnt from significant events.
• There was no child safeguarding policy in place despite external contact details being available. However since the inspection, the practice has provided evidence of a new child safeguarding policy that has been implemented.
• Improvements had been made to the governance of the practice which had impacted on patient outcomes.
• Risks to patients who use the services were well managed.
• Patients said they were treated with compassion, dignity and respect, and they were involved in their care and decisions about their treatment.
• Staff felt supported by management. The practice proactively sought feedback from staff and patients, which it acted on. The provider was aware of and complied with the requirements of the duty of candour.
• Staff had knowledge of the practice vision and there was a business plan to support this vision and the practice strategy.

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

The provider should:

• To continue review how patients with caring responsibilities are identified and recorded on the patient record system to ensure information, advice and support is made available to all.

I am taking this service out of special measures. This recognises the significant improvements made to the quality of care provided by the service.

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 Dr Rana Chowdhury on 11 January 2017. The overall rating for the practice was inadequate and the practice was placed in special measures for a period of six months. The full comprehensive report on the January 2017 inspection can be found by selecting the ‘all reports’ link for Dr Rana Chowdhury on our website at www.cqc.org.uk.

This inspection was undertaken following the period of special measures and was an announced comprehensive inspection on 18 October 2017. Overall the practice is now 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. The practice learnt from significant events.
• There was no child safeguarding policy in place despite external contact details being available. However since the inspection, the practice has provided evidence of a new child safeguarding policy that has been implemented.
• Improvements had been made to the governance of the practice which had impacted on patient outcomes.
• Risks to patients who use the services were well managed.
• Patients said they were treated with compassion, dignity and respect, and they were involved in their care and decisions about their treatment.
• Staff felt supported by management. The practice proactively sought feedback from staff and patients, which it acted on. The provider was aware of and complied with the requirements of the duty of candour.
• Staff had knowledge of the practice vision and there was a business plan to support this vision and the practice strategy.

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

The provider should:

• To continue review how patients with caring responsibilities are identified and recorded on the patient record system to ensure information, advice and support is made available to all.

I am taking this service out of special measures. This recognises the significant improvements made to the quality of care provided by the service.

Professor Steve Field CBE FRCP FFPH FRCGP 

Chief Inspector of General Practice

People who used the service understood the care and treatment choices available to them. We saw that staff dealt with people in a polite and friendly way. People told us that the doctor was good at explaining different types of treatment options. One person told us, ‘the doctor is brilliant, he will listen to me and then explain things’.

We found that care and treatment was planned and delivered in a way that was intended to ensure people’s safety and welfare. Care plans we looked at were person centred and were developed around individual needs. People we spoke with were positive about the surgery. One person told us, ‘I don’t think that they could really improve, I am more than happy’. Another person said, ’the doctor is very good’.

People who used the service were protected from the risk of abuse, because the provider had taken reasonable steps to identify the possibility of abuse and prevent abuse from happening. People told us that they felt safe at the surgery and felt comfortable with reporting any concerns they had to staff.

There were effective recruitment and selection processes in place. Prospective staff were interviewed by the GP to ensure that they had the suitable skills and experience for the particular role. We saw that the practice carried out employment checks to verify qualifications, references and identity.

People who used the service, their representatives and staff were asked for their views about their care and treatment and they were acted on. We saw that learning from incidents, complaints and investigations took place and appropriate changes were implemented. We examined a number of recent ‘significant events’ that had been recorded by the practice. We spoke to the practice manager about one of them. They explained what had happened and how the surgery had changed its practice to prevent the same situation arising in the future.