Letter from the Chief Inspector of General Practice

We carried out an announced comprehensive inspection at Dr Biju Kuriakose on 18 February 2016. Overall the practice is rated as good.

Our key findings across all the areas we inspected were as follows:

• Staff understood and fulfilled their responsibilities to raise concerns and report incidents and near misses. All opportunities for learning from internal and external incidents were maximised and discussed on a weekly basis.

• The practice used innovative and proactive methods to improve patient outcomes, working with other local providers to share best practice. For example, the GPs provided joint visits with the palliative care team to patient’s homes to improve patient care.

• Feedback from patients, staff and external organisations about the care provided was consistently and strongly positive. Patients said they were treated with compassion, dignity and respect and they were involved in their care and decisions about their treatment.

• The practice worked closely with other organisations and with the local community in planning how services were provided to ensure that they meet patients’ needs. The practice regularly engaged with NHS England Area Team and Clinical Commissioning Group (CCG).

• The practice implemented suggestions for improvements and made changes to the way it delivered services as a consequence of feedback from patients and from the patient participation group. For example, following patient feedback the extended hours were altered to suit patient demand.
• Staff assessed patients’ needs and delivered care in line with current evidence based guidance. Staff had the skills, knowledge and experience to deliver effective care and treatment. There were weekly tutorials and clinical meetings to discuss guidelines, the impact on patients and actions to be taken.
• Information about services and how to complain was widely available and easy to understand.
• The practice had good facilities and was well equipped to treat patients and meet their needs.
• The provider was aware of and complied with the requirements of the Duty of Candour. Openness and transparency was promoted within the practice.
• The practice had a vision which had patient care as its top priority.

We saw several areas of outstanding practice including:

• A project to educate patients on A&E attendance which resulted in a 74% decrease in visits.

• An early detection test for deep vein thrombosis to reduce unnecessary referrals.

• The practice had won several awards including Primary Educator of the Year 2015 for the East of England.

However there were areas where the provider should make improvements:

• Conduct fire drills at the required intervals.

Professor Steve Field CBE FRCP FFPH FRCGP

Chief Inspector of General Practice

Professor Steve Field (CBE FRCP FFPH FRCGP) 

Chief Inspector of General Practice