Letter from the Chief Inspector of General Practice
We carried out an announced comprehensive inspection at Dr S A Mushtaq & Partners on 5 July 2016. The overall rating for the practice was requires improvement as breaches of legal requirements were found. After the comprehensive inspection, the practice wrote to us and submitted an action plan outlining the actions they would take to meet legal requirements in relation to;
- Regulation 16 Health & Social Care Act 2008 (Regulated Activities) Regulations 2014 – receiving and acting on complaints.
- Regulation 17 Health & Social Care Act 2008 (Regulated Activities) Regulations 2014 – good governance.
From the inspection on 5 July 2016, the practice were told they must:
- Ensure a robust system is implemented to ensure that complaints are managed appropriately.
- Ensure records are maintained securely in relation to governance arrangements, including but not limited to records for complaints received and action taken, infection control audits and personnel files.
In addition, the practice were told they should:
- Develop systems to identify and support more carers in their patient population.
- Continue to monitor the results from the patient survey and establish an action plan for areas which are identified as requiring improvement.
The full comprehensive report on the July 2016 inspection can be found by selecting the ‘all reports’ link for Dr S A Mushtaq & Partners on our website at www.cqc.org.uk.
This inspection was a focused follow up carried out on 21 February 2017 to confirm that the practice had carried out their plan to meet the legal requirements in relation to the breach in regulations that we identified in our previous inspection on 5 July 2016. This report covers our findings in relation to those requirements and improvements made since our last inspection.
Overall the practice is now rated as good.
Our key findings were as follows:
- Systems had been improved to ensure that a consistent approach was adopted to handling complaints and that appropriate action was taken in response to complaints received. Records of complaints received and action taken were kept securely. We saw that complaints were shared with staff and improvements made to reduce the risk of recurrence.
- The practice had improved governance arrangements to ensure that records were securely maintained and managed appropriately.
- The practice had identified 112 patients as carers (less than 1%) and was actively working to identify and support more carers in its population. The practice had appointed a Carers Champion to work as a key point of contact for carers and to ensure support was available. They regularly liaised with the local charity for carers to provide up to date support and advice to patients.
- The practice regularly monitored national patient survey results and worked towards improving practice performance.
Professor Steve Field (CBE FRCP FFPH FRCGP)
Chief Inspector of General Practice