Archived: Dr Ravi Kumar Also known as The Surgery, London Road, Teynham

Updated 29 December 2021

Dr Ravi Kumar is located in Teynham at The Surgery, London Road, Teynham, Sittingbourne, Kent, ME9 9QL.

The provider is registered with CQC to deliver the Regulated Activities; diagnostic and screening procedures, maternity and midwifery services and treatment of disease, disorder or injury.

The practice is situated within the Kent and Medway Clinical Commissioning Group (CCG) and delivers General Medical Services (GMS) to a patient population of about 3,342. This is part of a contract held with NHS England.

The practice is part of a wider network of six GP practices, the Sittingbourne Primary Care Network (PCN).

Information published by Public Health England shows that deprivation within the practice population group is in the fifth lowest decile (one of 10). The lower the decile, the more deprived the practice population is relative to others.

According to the latest available data, the ethnic make-up of the practice area is 98% White, 1% Asian and 1% Mixed.

The age distribution of the practice population closely mirrors the local and national averages. There are more female patients registered at the practice compared to males. The average male life expectancy for the practice area is 76 years; female life expectancy is 81years.

The registered provider (a GP) is supported by a partner GP (male). The practice has a team of a practice nurse. The GPs are supported at the practice by a team of four reception/administration staff. The registered provider is currently suspended from clinical practice and the practice manager is also absent.

Extended access is provided locally by the PCN, where late evening and weekend appointments are available. Out of hours services are provided by MEDDOC.

Updated 29 December 2021

We carried out an announced comprehensive inspection at Dr Ravi Kumar (also known as The Surgery Teynham) on 16 August 2016. Overall, the practice was rated as Good.

The full versions of the report for the 16 August 2016 inspection can be found by selecting the ‘all reports’ link for Dr Ravi Kumar on our website at www.cqc.org.uk.

Why we carried out this inspection:

We carried out an unannounced focussed inspection at Dr Ravi Kumar on 18 November 2021 following information of concern. This report covers our findings.

How we carried out the inspection:

Throughout the pandemic CQC has continued to regulate and respond to risk. However, taking into account the circumstances arising as a result of the pandemic, and in order to reduce risk, we have conducted our inspections differently.

This inspection was carried out in a way which enabled us to spend a minimum amount of time on site. This was in line with all data protection and information governance requirements.

This included:

• Requesting evidence from the provider.
• A site visit.

Our judgement of the quality of care at this service is based on a combination of what we found when we inspected, information from our ongoing monitoring of data about services and information from the provider, patients, the public and other organisations.

Our findings:

This practice is now rated as Inadequate overall.

The key questions at this inspection are rated as:

Are services safe? – Inadequate

Are services well-led? – Inadequate

We rated the practice as Inadequate for providing safe services because they did not always have:

• Clear systems, practices and processes to keep people safe and safeguarded from abuse.
• Appropriate standards of cleanliness and hygiene.
• Effective systems to assess, monitor and manage risks to patient safety.
• The information staff needed to deliver safe care and treatment.
• Systems for the appropriate and safe use of medicines, including medicines optimisation.
• A consistent system to learn and make improvements when things went wrong.

We rated the practice as Inadequate for providing well-led services because:

• Leaders could not always demonstrate that they had the capacity and skills to deliver high quality sustainable care.
• The practice did not have a clear vision or credible strategy to provide high quality sustainable care.
• The overall governance arrangements were ineffective.
• The practice did not have clear and effective processes for managing risks, issues and performance.
• There was little evidence of systems and processes for learning, continuous improvement and innovation.

The areas where the provider must make improvements are:

• Ensure care and treatment is provided in a safe way to patients.
• Establish effective systems and processes to ensure good governance in accordance with the fundamental standards of care.
• Ensure that sufficient numbers of suitably qualified, competent, skilled and experienced staff to meet the needs of the people using the service at all times.
• Ensure persons employed in the provision of the regulated activity receive the appropriate support, training, professional development, supervision and appraisal necessary to enable them to carry out their duties.

The areas where the provider should make improvements are:

• Continue with their action plan to ensure Legionella testing and routine checks are fully embedded.
• Continue with their action plan to ensure all staff have received and completed Sepsis training by 6 December 2021.

I am placing the service into special measures. I am placing this service in special measures. Services placed in special measures will be inspected again within six months. If insufficient improvements have been made such that there remains a rating of inadequate for any key question or overall, we will take action in line with our enforcement procedures to begin the process of preventing the provider from operating the service. This will lead to cancelling their registration or to varying the terms of their registration within six months if they do not improve. The service will be kept under review and if needed could be escalated to urgent enforcement action. Where necessary, another inspection will be conducted within a further six months, and if there is not enough improvement we will move to close the service by adopting our proposal to vary the provider’s registration to remove this location or cancel the provider’s registration. Special measures will give people who use the service the reassurance that the care they get should improve.

Dr Rosie Benneyworth BM BS BMedSci MRCGP

Chief Inspector of Primary Medical Services and Integrated Care

Please refer to the detailed report and the evidence tables for further information.