Archived: Dr Ravi Latthe

Updated 20 August 2015

Dr Ravi Latthe’s practice is known locally as Walsall Wood Health Centre and is located in Walsall in the West Midlands. The practice has two GPs both male, a practice manager, a practice nurse and administrative and reception staff. There were 1896 patients registered with the practice at the time of the inspection.

The practice is open from 9am to 6.30pm Monday to Friday. In addition to the extended hours service each day, the practice provides appointments until 7.30pm once per month when needed. The practice is closed at weekends. Home visits are available for patients who are too ill to attend the practice for appointments. There is also an online service which allows patients to order repeat prescriptions, book appointments and update personal details.

The practice provides extended hours for those patients who have working commitments. Each day the practice offers appointments up to 6.30pm. During these extended hours the GPs do not have access to the support services that are usually available during normal working hours, such as practice nurses, however administrative staff do offer support at that time.

The practice treats patients of all ages and provides a range of medical services. The practice provides a number of clinics which includes asthma, diabetes and heart disease. The practice does not provide an out-of-hours service but has alternative arrangements in place for patients to be seen when the practice is closed via the Walsall Doctors on Call service.

Dr Ravi Latthe’s practice has a General Medical Services (GMS) contract. The GMS contract is the contract between general practices and NHS England for delivering primary care services to local communities.

Updated 20 August 2015

Letter from the Chief Inspector of General Practice

We carried out an announced comprehensive inspection at Dr Ravi Latthe’s practice on 28 April 2015. Overall the practice is rated as good.

Specifically, we found the practice to be good for providing safe, effective, caring, responsive and well led services. We found that the practice was good for providing services to older people, people with long term conditions, families, children and young people, the working age population and those recently retired, people in vulnerable circumstances and people experiencing poor mental health.

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

• There were reliable systems in place for the safe storage and use of medicines and vaccines within the practice.
• Staff had received training appropriate to their roles. Patients’ needs were assessed and care was planned and delivered following best practice guidance.
• Patients said they were treated with compassion, dignity and respect and involved in decisions about their treatment.
• Information about services and how to complain was available for patients and easy to understand.
• Patients said they found it easy to make an appointment with a named GP and urgent appointments available the same day.
• The practice had an open culture and staff felt supported and listened to.

There were also a number of areas of practice where the provider should make improvement. Importantly the provider should:

• Ensure that receptionists are clear about their responsibilities when acting as chaperones, particularly in relation to where to stand when intimate examinations take place.
• Ensure that all policies and procedures in place to govern activity are reviewed in a timely manner and updated as appropriate.

Professor Steve Field (CBE FRCP FFPH FRCGP) 

Chief Inspector of General Practice

Updated 20 August 2015

The practice is rated as good for the care of people with long-term conditions. Nursing staff had the lead role in chronic disease management. Patients at risk of hospital admission were identified as a priority. Longer appointments and home visits were available when needed. All these patients had a named GP and a structured annual review to check that 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.

Updated 20 August 2015

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 of harm. Immunisation rates were above average 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. We saw evidence to confirm this. Appointments were available outside of school hours.

Updated 20 August 2015

The practice is rated as good for the care of older people. Nationally reported data showed that outcomes for patients were good for conditions commonly found in older people. The practice offered proactive, personalised care to meet the needs of the older people in its population and had a range of enhanced services, for example, in dementia and end of life care. It was responsive to the needs of older people, and offered home visits and rapid access appointments for those with enhanced needs.

Updated 20 August 2015

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

Updated 20 August 2015

The practice is rated as good for the care of people experiencing poor mental health (including people with dementia). Patients who experienced poor mental health had received an annual physical health check. The practice regularly worked with multi-disciplinary teams in the case management of people experiencing poor mental health such as the community psychiatric nurse. It also carried out advance care planning for patients with dementia.

The practice had a system in place to follow up patients who had attended accident and emergency (A&E) including those that may have been experiencing poor mental health.

Updated 20 August 2015

The practice is rated as good for the care of people whose circumstances may make them vulnerable. Practice staff had identified patients with learning disabilities and treated them appropriately. All patients within this group had received annual health checks. The practice regularly worked with multi-disciplinary teams in the case management of vulnerable people. The practice informed vulnerable patients about how to access various support groups and voluntary 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 normal working hours and out of hours.