Background to this inspection
Updated
29 October 2019
Dr Rashid Akhtar also known as “The Surgery” is located at Sundial Lane, Great Barr, Birmingham West Midlands, B43 6PA. The provider is a single-handed GP, the premises are owned by the provider.
The practice is registered with the CQC to carry out the following regulated activities: diagnostic and screening procedures, treatment of disease, disorder or injury and maternity and midwifery services.
The practice provides NHS services through a General Medical Services (GMS) contract to approximately 3,000 patients. The practice is part of the NHS Sandwell and West Birmingham Clinical Commissioning Group (CCG) which is made up of 85 general practices.
The practice’s clinical team is led by the provider who is the lead GP (male). A female locum GP provides two clinical sessions per week usually on a Wednesday. A male advanced nurse practitioner works on a self-employed basis for eight hours per week however, the hours can vary depending on the work load. The practice employs a practice nurse who works one session a week on a Friday and a Health Care Assistant who works 12 hours a week. There are four part-time administrators/receptionists, a secretary and a practice manager.
The practice is open between 8.30am and 6.30pm Monday,Tuesday,Wednesday and Friday and on Thursday between 8.30am to 1.30pm. When the practice is closed on a Thursday afternoon, patients can access services at a local GP practice which is part of a GP “Hub”. This involves the practice working with two other local practices within a wider Primary Care Network.
The CCG has commissioned an extended hours service. The extended hours service operates Monday to Friday 6.30pm to 8pm and on Saturday and Sunday between 9am to 12pm alternating across the three GP Hub practices. Patients may book appointments with the service by contacting the practice or the Hub practice themselves. When the practice is closed on a Thursday afternoon, patients are directed to one of Hub practices.
The practice has opted out of providing an out-of-hours service. Patients can access the out of hours service provider by calling NHS 111.
Public Health England data shows the practice is located in an area with a low deprivation score and low levels of unemployment compared to other practices nationally. The practice has an above average practice population aged 65 years and over and a lower than national average population aged 18 years and under.
Updated
29 October 2019
We carried out an announced comprehensive inspection at Dr Rashid Akhtar on 17 January 2019 as part of our inspection programme. The overall rating for the service was requires improvement. Breaches of legal requirements were found, and we issued a requirement notice for Regulation 12 HSCA (RA) Regulations 2014 Safe care and treatment and Regulation 17 HSCA (RA) Regulations 2014 Good governance. This inspection was an announced comprehensive inspection carried out on 24 September 2019. The purpose of the inspection was to confirm if the service had made sufficient improvements and met the requirements of the notice.
We based our judgement of the quality of care at this service on a combination of:
- what we found when we inspected
- information from our ongoing monitoring of data about services and
- information from the provider, patients, the public and other organisations.
We have rated this practice as good overall and good for all population groups except for working age people (including those recently retired and students) which we rated requires improvement.
We rated the practice as good for providing safe, effective, caring, responsive and well led services because:
- There were systems and processes in place to keep people safe such as effective safeguarding procedures, infection prevention and control and the management of medicines.
- Patients received effective care and treatment that met their needs.
- Staff dealt with patients with kindness and respect and involved them in decisions about their care. Patient feedback was consistently positive. This included the results of the national GP survey which showed the practice was above the local and national average in most questions.
- The practice organised and delivered services to meet patients’ needs.
- The way the practice was led and managed promoted the delivery of high-quality, person-centre care.
We rated the practice as requires improvement for the population group working age people (including those recently retired and students) because:
- The uptake of cervical screening was below the national minimum standards. Although the practice had taken some action to improve, the practice could not demonstrate this had resulted in significant improvements.
The areas where the provider should make improvements are:
- Review the recruitment process so that potential risks are assessed and managed effectively.
- Consider how to increase the uptake for cervical screening so the minimum coverage target for the national screening programme is met.
- Provide staff the opportunity to complete training in equality and diversity to ensure consistency in practice.
Details of our findings and the evidence supporting our ratings are set out in the evidence tables.
Dr Rosie Benneyworth BM BS BMedSci MRCGP
Chief Inspector of Primary Medical Services and Integrated Care