Archived: Dr CJ George

Updated 28 September 2018

The registered provider is Dr Chembukkavu John George.

This is a private practice run by one doctor, who is registered and licensed to practise by the General Medical Council. There are no other clinical staff employed. The provider employs two other staff as reception and administration support. The practice is provided in a purpose-built single storey building, and is situated in the centre of the town of Rainham.

Dr George provides general health consultations, a range of vaccination services, medicines dispensing, minor operations and other medical services. Approximately1000 patients a year attend the surgery.

Services are provided from:

1 Crevequer Chambers

35 High Street

Rainham-

Kent

ME8 7HS

Minor operations are carried out one or twice a month in the minor operations theatre of Wigmore Surgery which is located nearby. We did not visit this site on the day of our inspection.

The practice is open from Monday 10am to 3.30pm, Tuesday 8.30am to 3pm, Thursday and Friday 8.30am to 3pm. Dr George undertakes home visits and these are available until 7pm.

We inspected Dr George on 21 August 2018. The inspection team comprised of a CQC inspector.

Before visiting, we reviewed information sent to us by the service that told us how the breaches identified during the comprehensive inspection had been addressed. During our visit we spoke with a receptionist and Dr George as well as, reviewed information, documents and records kept at the service.

To get to the heart of patients’ experiences of care and treatment, we always ask the following questions:

• Is it safe?
• Is it responsive to people’s needs?
• Is it well-led?

These questions therefore formed the framework for the areas we looked at during the inspection.

Updated 28 September 2018

We carried out an announced comprehensive inspection of Dr CJ George on 7 December 2017. The service required improvement for safe, responsive and well-led services. The full comprehensive report on the December 2017 inspection can be found by selecting the ‘all reports’ link for Dr CJ George on our website at www.cqc.org.uk.

We carried out an announced focused inspection on 21 August 2018 to confirm that the practice had carried out their plan to meet the legal requirements in relation to the breaches in regulations that we identified in our previous inspection on 7 December 2017. This report covers our findings in relation to those requirements and also additional improvements made since our last inspection.

Our findings were:

Are services safe?

We found that this service was providing safe care in accordance with the relevant regulations.

Are services responsive?

We found that this service was providing responsive care in accordance with the relevant regulations.

Are services well-led?

We found that this service was providing well-led care in accordance with the relevant regulations.

We carried out this inspection under Section 60 of the Health and Social Care Act 2008 as part of our regulatory functions. This inspection was planned to check whether the service was meeting the legal requirements and regulations associated with the Health and Social Care Act 2008.

At our last inspection 7 December 2017 we found:

• There was no systematic approach for reporting and recording significant events which complied with the Duty of Candour Regulation.
• Staff and doctors did not understand their responsibilities regarding safeguarding of adults and children.
• There was no assessment of the risk of Legionella at the premises.
• There was no assessment of the risk of not having a defibrillator or medical oxygen on the premises.
• Practice policies were not reviewed to reflect current legislation and best practice.
• There was no system for recording and actioning any relevant patient safety alerts.
• There were no appropriate physical checks of the fitness for purpose, of the building and equipment such as electrical, fire safety and clinical products.
• There was no effective system for managing and responding to complaints.

We checked these areas as part of this focussed inspection and found these had been resolved.

This service is registered with Care Quality Commission (CQC) under the Health and Social Care Act 2008 in respect of some, but not all, of the services it provides. There are some exemptions from regulation by CQC which relate to particular types of service and these are set out in Schedule 2 of The Health and Social Care Act 2008 (Regulated Activities) Regulations 2014. At Dr George some services are provided to patients under arrangements made by themselves, their employer, government departments or insurance companies. These types of arrangements, such as medicals for HGV/PCV Driving Licences, are exempt by law from CQC regulation.

Therefore, we only inspected the services subject to Regulation.

Our key findings were:

• There was a systematic approach for reporting and recording significant events which complied with the Duty of Candour Regulation.
• Staff and doctors understood their responsibilities regarding safeguarding of adults and children.
• There was an assessment of the risk of Legionella at the premises and its findings acted upon.
• There was an assessment of the risk of not having a defibrillator or medical oxygen on the premises and its findings were acted upon.
• Practice policies were reviewed to reflect current legislation and best practice.
• There a system for recording and actioning any relevant patient safety alerts.
• There were appropriate physical checks of the fitness for purpose, of the building and equipment such as electrical, fire safety and clinical products.

There was an effective system for managing and responding to complaints.