Letter from the Chief Inspector of General Practice
We carried out an announced comprehensive inspection at Dr Mokashi on 19 January 2016. Overall the practice is rated as inadequate.
Our key findings across all the areas we inspected were as follows:
- Patients were at risk of harm because systems and processes were not consistently in place to keep them safe. For example, there was no clinical accountability in the running of the minor surgery clinics with no quality assurance systems in place.
- There was no clear process for the monitoring and checking of patients’ test results.
- The practice had no clear clinical processes or monitoring of high risk medicines.
- The practice had no infection control process, or any record of annual audits having taken place.
- There was no record that staff had received regular mandatory training. We also identified staff who were chaperones that had not received any formal training to carry out this role.
- The practice had a number of policies to govern activity; however there was an inconsistent approach throughout the practice.
- The practice did not hold any records to show whether staff were immunised against infectious diseases for example Hepatitis B.
- Most patients said they found it easy to make an appointment with a named GP and that there was continuity of care, with urgent appointments available the same day.
- Information about services and how to complain was available and easy to understand.
The areas where the provider must make improvements are:
- Introduce quality assurance processes for reporting, recording, acting on and monitoring of medicine management including area of high risk medicines, and infection control.
- Ensure infection control process and procedures are fully implemented.
- Introduce quality assurance processes in acting on and in the monitoring of histology and test results.
- Ensure that staff receive appropriate training and supervision to enable them to carry out the duties they are employed to do, including chaperone training and a record of training undertaken must be maintained.
- Ensure staff have regular appraisals
- Implement processes and update current practice policies to reflect the practice and staff roles accurately.
In addition the provider should:
I am placing this practice in special measures. Practices placed in special measures will be inspected again within six months. If insufficient improvements have been made so a rating of inadequate remains for any population group, key question or overall, we will take action in line with our enforcement procedures to begin the process of preventing the provider from operating the service. This will lead to cancelling their registration or to varying the terms of their registration within six months if they do not improve.
The practice will be kept under review and if needed could be escalated to urgent enforcement action. Where necessary, another inspection will be conducted within a further six months, and if there is not enough improvement we will move to close the service.
Special measures will give people who use the practice the reassurance that the care they get should improve.
Professor Steve Field (CBE FRCP FFPH FRCGP)
Chief Inspector of General Practice