Archived: Dr Nadarajah Sivananthan Also known as Quedgeley Medical Centre

Letter from the Chief Inspector of General Practice

We carried out an announced comprehensive inspection of Dr Nadarajah Sivananthan on 26 July 2016. Overall the practice is rated as good.

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

• There was an open and transparent approach to safety and an effective system in place for reporting and recording significant events.
• Risks to patients were assessed and well managed.
• Staff assessed patients’ needs and delivered care in line with current evidence based guidance. Staff had been trained to provide them with the skills, knowledge and experience to deliver effective care and treatment.
• Patients said they were treated with compassion, dignity and respect and they were involved in their care and decisions about their treatment.
• Information about services and how to complain was available and easy to understand. Improvements were made to the quality of care as a result of complaints and concerns.
• The practice had good facilities and was well equipped to treat patients and meet their needs.
• There was a clear leadership structure and 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.

• Patients said they found it easy to make an appointment with a named GP and there was good continuity of care. The practice provided excellent patient access, all urgent appointments were scheduled for the same day and routine appointment could be scheduled within two days. This was reflected by patient access scores and also confirmed by patients and the patient participation group we spoke with on the day of our inspection. The practice had a philosophy to see patients on the day and to educate patients to empower them by ensuring their whole care plan is identified and agreed at one appointment where appropriate.

• The practice used ‘Vision clinical system’ and its’ link to NICE guidelines for day to day management of patients. In addition it used ‘Vision anywhere’ which was linked to the clinical system and available on tablets and mobile phones. This could be used during home visits and allowed the practice to record visit information using built-in dictaphone functionality and also generated prescriptions using the software. This information was automatically uploaded to the practice's clinical system and prescription sent to the chemist via the electronic prescription service.

The areas where the provider should make improvement are:

• Review how the practice identifies carers in order to increase the numbers of patients who may require carer support.

Professor Steve Field (CBE FRCP FFPH FRCGP) 

Chief Inspector of General Practice