Letter from the Chief Inspector of General Practice
We carried out an announced comprehensive inspection at Dr Goyal and Associates Practice on 5 September 2016 The overall rating for the practice was good. The full comprehensive report on 5 September 2016 inspection can be found by selecting the ‘all reports’ link for Dr Goyal and Associates on our website at www.cqc.org.uk.
This inspection was an announced focused inspection carried out on 8 March 2017 to confirm that the practice had carried out their plan to meet the legal requirements in relation to the breaches in regulations that we identified in our previous inspection on 5 September 2016. This report covers our findings in relation to those requirements and also additional improvements made since our last inspection.
Our key findings were as follows:
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The practice had records in place to demonstrate that emergency drugs were being monitored regularly.
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Risks to patients were well assessed, for example, staff protected patient’s confidentiality by removing their smart cards when vacating computer terminals.
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The practice had a carer’s identification protocol and the practice’s computer system alerted GPs if a patient was a carer or had a carer. The practice had identified 75 patients as carers (more than 1% of the practice list). A generic letter which encouraged patients to identify themselves as carers was also introduced and was sent out to patients when sending other communication for example reminder letters.
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Following the comprehensive inspection, the practice implemented an uncollected prescription policy which was managed by the GP and maintained by reception staff. Uncollected prescriptions were audited by way of a register including patient ID, date on prescription, outcome and date prescriptions were destroyed.
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The practice could demonstrate that fire drills had been carried out, however improvements were needed to ensure patient safety.
At our previous inspection on 5 September 2016, we rated the practice as requires improvement for providing safe services based on our findings which included issues around emergency drugs and repeat prescription management. At this inspection we found that the issues found during the previous inspection had been addressed. Therefore, the practice is now rated as good for providing safe services.
The area where the provider should make improvement is:
Professor Steve Field (CBE FRCP FFPH FRCGP)
Chief Inspector of General Practice