Archived: Dr Pal & Partners Also known as The Parks Medical Practice

Letter from the Chief Inspector of General Practice

We carried out a comprehensive inspection of Dr Pal and Partners (The Parks Medical Practice)

on 17 March 2015. Overall the practice is rated as good.

Specifically, we found the practice to be good for providing effective, caring, responsive and well led services. It requires improvement for providing safe services. It was good for providing services for all the population groups we assessed.

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

• Staff understood and fulfilled their responsibilities to raise and raise concerns.
• Information about safety was recorded, monitored, appropriately reviewed and addressed.
• The practice had systems to manage and review risks to vulnerable children, young people and adults. Staff were trained on safeguarding patients from abuse and harm.
• Medicines were stored securely and stocks were well organised.
• On the day of the inspection the practice was clean, tidy and well organised. Staff reported high standards of cleanliness were provided at all times and problems are dealt with promptly.
• Staff were trained in basic life support skills so they knew what to do in the event of an emergency.
• Patients’ needs were assessed and care was planned and delivered following best practice guidance.
• Staff received training appropriate to their roles.
• Most 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.
• Generally patients said they found it easy to make an appointment with a named GP with urgent appointments available the same day.
• Longer appointments were also available for patients who needed them including those with long-term conditions.

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

Importantly, the provider must:

• Ensure a Disclosure and Barring Scheme check is completed for all staff who act as a chaperone.
• Ensure full pre-employment checks are completed, including Disclosure and Barring Scheme checks, prior to staff being employed to ensure they are suitable for their role.

There were also areas of practice where the provider needs to make improvements. In addition the provider should:

• Ensure detailed records are kept when reviewing significant events to show what action was taken as a result of the review or if the issue was reviewed later.
• Ensure left over medicines are returned to the supplying pharmacist for the purpose of auditing and monitoring.
• Ensure a spills kit is available to ensure the prevention of cross infection.
• Ensure an infection control audit is completed to assess and monitor the standards of cleanliness in the building.
• Ensure a more robust appraisal system needs to be implemented to ensure staff have the formal support and supervision they need to carry out their work.

Professor Steve Field (CBE FRCP FFPH FRCGP) 

Chief Inspector of General Practice