Archived: Dr Om Sharma

Updated 19 November 2015

Dr Om Sharma’s practice is a single handed GP practice that provides primary medical services to patients living in Nottingham. The practice is based in Greenfields Medical Centre alongside other health care services. The practice has a patient car park with parking available for patients with mobility difficulties. The main entrance to the practice has electronic sliding doors enabling easy wheelchair access over level ground. Part of the reception counter is lowered for use if necessary. A team of one male GP, a part time female locum GP, one nurse, a health care assistant, a practice manager, four receptionists, and two administrative staff provide care and treatment for approximately 2000 patients. The practice has a proportion of patients from minority ethnic groups and provides care and treatment to asylum seekers. They do not provide an out-of-hours service to their own patients but they have alternative arrangements for patients to be seen when the practice is closed. We previously visited the practice on 14 October 2014. At this inspection we identified areas that the practice needed to improve on and the practice was rated as requires improvement.

Please note that when referring to information throughout this report, for example any reference to the Quality and Outcomes Framework data, this relates to the most recent information available to the CQC at that time.

Updated 19 November 2015

Letter from the Chief Inspector of General Practice

We carried out an announced focused inspection at Dr Om Sharma on 21 September 2015. This was to check that improvements had been made to meet the legal requirements following our comprehensive inspection on 10th October 2014

Overall the practice is rated as good.

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

• Appropriate standards of cleanliness and hygiene were followed.
• A robust system was in place for identifying, recording, and learning from safety incidents and significant events.
• Systems were in place to keep patients safe and to protect them from harm. Staff recruitment, training, and infection control had been strengthened.
• There was appropriate emergency equipment and medicines were available to deal with home visits and emergencies.
• Clinical audits were used to improve outcomes for patients and provide assurances as to the quality of care.

However there were areas of practice where the provider needs to make improvements.

Importantly the provider should

• Ensure medicines that have expired are disposed of appropriately and within a safe time frame.

Professor Steve Field (CBE FRCP FFPH FRCGP) 

Chief Inspector of General Practice

Updated 11 December 2014

The practice is rated as good for the population group of people with long term conditions.  Emergency processes were in place and referrals made for patients in this group who had a sudden deterioration in health. When needed longer appointments and home visits were available. All patients had a named GP and structured annual reviews to check their health and medication needs were being met. For those people with the most complex needs the named GP worked with relevant health and care professionals to deliver a multidisciplinary package of care. The nurse had also received training to reflect the needs of the high ethnic population. An example of this was training in reducing the risk of hypoglycaemia (low blood sugar) during Ramadan. A Ramadan Health Guide which had been translated into other languages was available to support the advice given by the nurse to non-English speaking patients.

Updated 11 December 2014

The practice is rated as good for the population group of families, children and young people. Systems were in place for identifying and following-up children living in disadvantaged circumstances and who were at risk. For example, multi-disciplinary meetings were held between the practice and Health Visitors. Immunisation rates were relatively high for all standard childhood immunisations. Where immunisation rates fell below the national average, the practice demonstrated an awareness of the reasons for this and described what they were doing to address it. Patients told us and we saw evidence that children and young people were treated in an age appropriate way and recognised as individuals. Appointments were available after school hours. We were provided with good examples of joint working with midwives, health visitors and social care. 

Updated 19 November 2015

The practice is rated good for the care of older people. This is because the issues which led to the population groups being rated as requires improvement have now been addressed

Nationally reported data showed the practice had good outcomes for conditions commonly found amongst older people. When needed, longer appointments and home visits were available for older people. Care and treatment of older people reflect current evidence-based practice. A list of older patients who required a care plan for the avoidance of unplanned hospital admissions had been generated and care plans were in place on their records.

Updated 19 November 2015

The practice is rated good for the care of people with long term conditions. This is because the issues which led to the population groups being rated as requires improvement have now been addressed.

The practice offered extended opening hours for appointments on Monday and online appointments could be booked with the  GP and nurse. Patients could request online repeat prescriptions. Health promotion advice and health promotion material was available in other languages to reflect the needs of the practice’s large ethnic population.

Updated 19 November 2015

The practice is rated good for the care of people experiencing poor mental health. This is because the issues which led to the population groups being rated as requires improvement have now been addressed.

The practice held a register that identified patients experiencing poor mental health or dementia. There was a system in place to alert staff of their needs. There was a system in place for people experiencing poor mental health to receive an annual physical and mental health check. Nationally reported data from the Quality and Outcomes Framework (QOF) demonstrated that the practice had met the national average in reviewing the care of people experiencing poor mental health and people with a diagnosis of dementia.

The practice had sign-posted patients experiencing poor mental health to various support groups and third sector organisations including In-sight and talking therapies.

Updated 11 December 2014

The practice is rated as good for the population group of people whose circumstances may make them vulnerable. The practice held a register of patients living in vulnerable circumstances including those approaching the end of their life, asylum seekers and those with learning disabilities. The practice had carried out annual health checks for people with learning disabilities. Information inviting them to their health check and a health action plan were provided in an easy read format ensuring that the method of communicating with patients with learning disabilities was effective and met their needs. The practice offered longer appointments for people with learning disabilities.

The practice regularly worked with multi-disciplinary teams in the case management of vulnerable people and had systems in place to identify those patients who were most at risk. The practice had sign-posted vulnerable patients to various support groups and other organisations. 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 and out of hours.