Archived: Dr Vipan Palta Also known as Auriol Medical Centre

Updated 7 February 2017

Dr Vipan Palta also known as Auriol Medical Centre offers personal medical services to the population of Worcester Park in Surrey. There are approximately 3,100 registered patients.

Auriol Medical Centre is run by a sole GP (male). The practice is also supported by two long-standing locums (one female, one male), a part-time practice nurse, a small team of administrative staff and a part-time practice manager.

The practice provides a number of services for its patients including asthma reviews, child immunisation, diabetes reviews and holiday vaccines and advice.

Services are provided from one location:

Auriol Medical Centre, 46 Salisbury Road, Worcester Park, Surrey, KT4 7DG

Opening Hours are:-

Monday 9am to 12pm and 2pm to 6.30pm

Tuesday 9am to 2pm and 2pm to 6.30pm

Wednesday 9am to 2pm

Thursday 9am to 2pm and 2pm to 6.30pm

Friday 9am to 2pm and 2pm to 6.30pm

The practice is able to offer evening appointments (until 9.30pm) and weekend appointments to all their patients. This service is run by a hub of doctors’ practices that jointly run an evening and weekend service at four locations in Leatherhead, Nork, Epsom and Tadworth.

Between the hours of 8am to 9am and on Wednesdays 2pm to 6.30pm there is an emergency phone number to speak with the GP. During the other times when the practice is closed, the practice has arrangements for patients to access care from an Out of Hours provider.

The practice population has a higher number of patients aged 55 years of age and over than the national and local clinical commissioning group (CCG) average. The practice population also shows a lower number of patients aged between birth and 34 years of age than the national and local CCG average. The percentage of registered patients suffering deprivation (affecting both adults and children) is lower than the average for England. Less than 10% of patients do not have English as their first language.

Updated 7 February 2017

Letter from the Chief Inspector of General Practice

We carried out an announced comprehensive inspection at Dr Vipan Palta (also known as Auriol Medical Centre) on 28 April 2016. During this inspection we found a breach of legal requirements and the provider was rated as requires improvement under the safe domain. The practice sent to us an action plan detailing what they would do to meet the legal requirements in relation to the following:-

• Ensure all staff undertake mandatory training including Safeguarding Vulnerable Adults and Safeguarding Children, fire awareness, infection control and information governance.
• Ensure electrical items are PAT tested and medical equipment is calibrated.
• Complete regular fire drills.

We undertook this announced focused inspection on 20 December 2016 to check the provider had followed their action plan and to confirm that they now met legal requirements. The provider was now meeting all requirements and is rated as good under the safe domain.

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

• Staff had undertaken on-line training for topics the practice had considered as mandatory. This included Safeguarding Vulnerable Adults and Safeguarding Children, fire awareness, infection control and information governance.
• All electrical items had been PAT tested (portable appliance testing) by an independent company and all medical equipment had been calibrated to ensure they worked correctly.
• Staff had undertaken fire drills.

This report only covers our findings in relation to this topic. You can read the report from our last comprehensive inspection published on the 22 June 2016, by selecting the 'all reports' link for Dr Vipan Palta on our website at www.cqc.org.uk.

Professor Steve Field (CBE FRCP FFPH FRCGP) 

Chief Inspector of General Practice

Updated 22 June 2016

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

• The GP had taken on the lead roles in chronic disease management and patients at risk of hospital admission were identified as a priority.
• The practice used the service of a specialist diabetic nurse for those patients with complex diabetic needs or who were newly diagnosed.
• Performance for diabetes related indicators was lower than the clinical commissioning group (CCG) and national average. However, the exception reporting rate was also very low. The exception reporting figure is the number of patients excluded from the overall calculation due to factors such as non-engagement when recalled by the practice for reviews. For example, 62% of patients on the diabetes register, had a record of a foot examination and risk classification within the preceding 12 months, with the CCG average being 80%. The practice had 185 patients who were eligible for this check and the practice only excluded three patients who did not attend for specific reasons. This is an exception rate of 1% whereas the CCG average had an exception rate of 8%.
• 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 medicines needs were being met. For those patients with the most complex needs, the named GP worked with relevant health and care professionals to deliver a multidisciplinary package of care.

Updated 22 June 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 comparable to the national and CCG averages for all standard childhood immunisations.
• The practice’s uptake for the cervical screening programme was 70%, which was lower than the national average of 74%. The practice had plans in place to increase this number by increasing the hours of the practice nurse.
• 70% of female patients aged 50 to 70, had attended a breast cancer screening within 6 months of invitation which was comparable to the CCG average of 72%.
• Appointments were available outside of school hours and the premises were suitable for children and babies.
• We saw positive examples of joint working with midwives and health visitors
• Safeguarding policies and procedures were readily available to staff.
• The practice ensured children needing emergency appointments would be seen on the same day.

Updated 22 June 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.
• The practice was responsive to the needs of older people, and offered home visits and urgent appointments for those with enhanced needs.
• The practice offered house bound patients flu vaccines within their own homes
• The practice could offer blood pressure monitoring, blood tests and INR monitoring at patients homes when necessary.

Updated 22 June 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 was proactive in offering online services as well as a full range of health promotion and screening that reflects the needs for this age group.
• The practice was able to offer evening appointments (until 9.30pm) and weekend appointments to all their patients. (The practice was part of a hub of doctors’ practices that jointly ran an evening and weekend service). These appointments were not run from the practice but from two separate locations in Leatherhead and Epsom.

Updated 22 June 2016

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

• The practice had recorded 13 patients as being diagnosed with dementia. Fifty-six per cent of those patients had their care reviewed in a face to face meeting in the last 12 months, which was lower than the national average of 84%.
• 81% of patients diagnosed with schizophrenia, bipolar affective disorder and other psychoses had a comprehensive, agreed care plan documented in the record in the preceding 12 months, which was comparable to the national average of 88%.
• 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 advance 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.
• Staff had a good understanding of how to support patients with mental health needs and dementia.

Updated 22 June 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 including homeless people, travellers and those with a learning disability.
• The practice offered longer appointments for patients with a learning disability.
• The practice regularly worked with other health care professionals in the case management of vulnerable patients.
• 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.
• The practice could accommodate those patients with limited mobility or who used wheelchairs.
• Carers and those patients who had carers, were flagged on the practice computer system and were signposted to the local carers support team.