Dr Shafquth Rasool

Updated 3 October 2016

Dr Shafquth Rasool, Abbey Health Centre, Finchale Avenue, Billingham, Cleveland, is located near the centre of Billingham. The practice is housed in a purpose built medical centre housing and includes another two practices, a phlebotomy service and a pharmacy. The practice staff were involved in the design of the building which is Eco friendly using solar energy and recycling rain water. There is a ‘drive through’ pharmacy which means if patients choose they do not need to leave their cars when handing in or collecting their prescriptions. There is parking available at the practice to accommodate all practices. Many of the patients live within walking distance of the practice and there is some access to public transport. There are 2500 patients on the practice list. The practice list is currently closed in agreement with the Clinical Commissioning Group (CCG) as they had reached their maximum number of patients for a single handed GP practice. The practice scored six on the deprivation measurement scale, the deprivation scale goes from one to ten, with one being the most deprived. People living in more deprived areas tend to have a greater need for health services.

The practice is a single handed GP service with one male GP. There is support from another two GPs from a neighbouring practice that will assist the practice in times of emergencies or unplanned absence by the GP. There are two practice nurses one of which is a nurse prescriber. The practice are in the process of recruiting a new health care assistant (HCA) all nurses are female. There is a practice manager and administrative staff.

The practice is a teaching practice taking year five students (Teaching practices take medical students and training practices have GP trainees and F2 doctors). The GP also provides mentor ship for a district nurse undertaking the nurse prescriber course each year.

The practice is open from 8am to 5pm, Monday to Friday. The practice provides extended hours on a Monday until 7.40pm. Appointments can be booked by walking into the practice, by the telephone and on line. Patients requiring a GP outside of normal working hours are advised to contact the GP out of hour’s service provided by Northern Doctors via the NHS 111 service. Arrangements had been made for Northern Doctors to answer emergency calls between 5pm and 6.30pm. The practice holds a General Medical Service (GMS) contract.

Updated 3 October 2016

Letter from the Chief Inspector of General Practice

We carried out an announced comprehensive inspection at Dr Shafquth Rasool practice on 10 August 2016. Overall the practice is rated as good.

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

• Staff understood and fulfilled their responsibilities to raise concerns and report incidents and near misses. All opportunities for learning from internal and external incidents were maximised.

• There was an open and transparent approach to safety and an effective system in place for reporting and recording significant events. The practice promoted a no blame culture and encouraged staff to raise concerns and possible risks.

• 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.

• Patients said they found it easy to make an appointment with a named GP and there was continuity of care, with urgent appointments available the same day and pre bookable appointments available in two to three days.

• Feedback from patients about their care was consistently positive.

• The practice had good facilities and was well equipped to treat patients and meet their needs.

• The practice had been awarded the title of best practice in Teesside following the results of the national patient survey by the local newspaper.

• 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. (The duty of candour is a set of specific legal requirements that providers of services must follow when things go wrong with care and treatment).

However there was one area of practice where the provider should make improvement:

Review the process for issuing prescriptions to ensure they were not issued beyond the annual medicines review date.

Professor Steve Field (CBE FRCP FFPH FRCGP) 

Chief Inspector of General Practice

Updated 3 October 2016

The practice is rated as good for the care of people with long-term conditions.

• Nursing staff had lead roles in chronic disease management and patients at risk of hospital admission were identified as a priority. There was a joint approach to managing these patients with community matrons and district nurses.

• Nationally reported data for 2014/2015 showed that outcomes for patients with long term conditions were good. For example, the percentage of patients with diabetes, on the register, whose last measured total cholesterol (measured within the preceding 12 months) was 5mmol/l or less was 84%. This was1% above the local CCG average and 4% above the England average.

• Longer appointments and home visits were available when needed.

• All these patients had a named GP and a structured annual review to check their health and medicine needs were being met.

• The practice promoted self-management for some long term conditions.

• The practice was involved in the healthy lung and healthy heart checks.

Updated 3 October 2016

The practice is rated as good for the care of families, children and young people.

• There were systems in place to identify and follow up children living in disadvantaged circumstances and who were at risk, for example, children and young people who had a high number of A&E attendances.

• Immunisation rates were relatively high for all standard childhood immunisations.

• Patients told us that children and young people were treated in an age-appropriate way and were recognised as individuals, and we saw evidence to confirm this.

• Nationally reported data from 2014/2015 showed the practice’s uptake for the cervical screening programme was 83% compared to the local CCG average of 83% and national average of 81%.

• Appointments were available outside of school hours and the premises were suitable for children and babies.

• We saw positive examples of joint working with health visitors and school nurses.

• Young people were able to access contraception and screening for sexually transmitted diseases (STDs).

Updated 3 October 2016

The practice is rated as good for the care of older people.

• The practice offered proactive, personalised care to meet the needs of the older people in its population. Patients over the age of 75 had an annual review.
• The practice was responsive to the needs of older people, and offered home visits and urgent appointments for those with enhanced needs. The GP regularly visited and reviewed patients in care homes.
• The practice had identified and reviewed the care of those patients at highest risk of admission to hospital. Those patients who had an unplanned admission or presented at Accident and Emergency (A&E) had their care plan reviewed and patients were contacted within three days of hospital discharge. All discharges were reviewed to identify areas for improvement. The practice worked closely with the community matrons to prevent unnecessary admissions.

Updated 3 October 2016

The practice is rated as good for the care of working-age people (including those recently retired and students).

• The needs of the working age population, those recently retired and students had been identified and the practice had adjusted the services it offered to ensure these were accessible, flexible and offered continuity of care. The practice had late appointments available on a Monday evening.

• The practice was proactive in offering online services as well as a full range of health promotion and screening that reflected the needs for this age group.

Updated 3 October 2016

The practice is rated as good for the care of people experiencing poor mental health (including people with dementia).

• Nationally reported data from 2014/2015 showed 94% of patients diagnosed with dementia had had their care reviewed in a face to face meeting in the previous 12 months, which was 8% above the CCGaverage and 10% above the national average.

• Nationally reported data from 2014/2015 showed the percentage of patients with schizophrenia, bipolar affective disorder and other psychoses who had a comprehensive care plan documented in their record in the preceding 12 months was 100 %, which was 6% above the CCG average and 10%above the national average.

• The practice regularly worked with multi-disciplinary teams in the case management of patients experiencing poor mental health, including those with dementia.

• The practice carried out advanced care planning for patients with dementia.

• The practice had told patients experiencing poor mental health about how to access various support groups and voluntary organisations.

• The practice had a system in place to follow up patients who had attended accident and emergency where they may have been experiencing poor mental health.

• Patients on medicines requiring regular monitoring and where the practice shared their care with mental health services were monitored regularly in the practice.

• The practice hosted counselling and Cognitive Behavioural Therapies (CBT) which is a talking therapy that can help you manage your problems by changing the way you think and behave.

Updated 3 October 2016

The practice is rated as good for the care of people whose circumstances may make them vulnerable.

• The practice held a register of patients living in vulnerable circumstances and provided a supportive and non-judgemental approach. Examples of these patient groups were people with drug and alcohol problems and those living with a learning disability. There were same day appointments available for those in crisis. Were required the practice signposted patients to citizen advice and lifeline for drug and alcohol support.
• The practice offered longer appointments for patients with a learning disability. Annual reviews for this group were monitored by the practice.
• The practice regularly worked with other health care professionals in the case management of vulnerable patients. Staff knew how to recognise signs of abuse in vulnerable adults and children. Staff were aware of their responsibilities regarding information sharing, documentation of safeguarding concerns and how to contact relevant agencies in normal working hours and out of hours.
• The practice held Palliative Care meetings every six weeks to discuss and agree care plans.