Archived: Dr O S Singh & Partners

Updated 22 October 2015

Dr O S Singh & Partners provides medical care Monday to Friday from 8.30am to 6pm each week day and operates extended opening hours until 8pm on Monday evenings. The practice is situated in the Lordswood area of Chatham in Kent and provides a service to approximately 8,000 patients in the locality.

Routine health care and clinical services are offered at the practice, led and provided by the GPs and nursing team. There are a range of patient population groups that use the practice and the practice holds a General Medical Services (GMS) contract with the Medway Clinical Commissioning Group (CCG). The practice does not provide out of hours services to its patients and information is available to patients about how to contact the local out of hours services when the practice is closed.

The practice has one male GP partner, a female GP partner and two long-term male locum GPs . There are three part-time female practice nurses, as well as a female health care assistant. The practice has a number of administration / reception and secretarial staff as well as a practice manager.

The practice has more patients in the younger age population groups than the local and national averages. The number of patients of a working age registered with the practice are in line with the local and national averages, although there are a lower number of patients over the age of 65 when compared to the local and national averages. The number of patients recognised as suffering deprivation is lower than the local and national averages.

Services are provided from:

Lordswood Community Healthy Living Centre

Sultan Road

Lordswood

Chatham

Kent. ME5 8TJ

Updated 22 October 2015

Letter from the Chief Inspector of General Practice

We carried out an announced focused inspection at Dr O S Singh & Partners on the 22 September 2015. Overall the practice is rated as good.

Specifically, we found the practice to be good for providing safe services.

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

·         The practice had safe systems and processes to manage medicines, including arrangements for the safe storage of vaccines.

·         The practice had implemented a system to undertake regular checks of the emergency medicines and medical equipment kept in the practice.

·         There was a system and procedures for the security of prescription pads and blank computerised prescription forms used in the practice.

Professor Steve Field (CBE FRCP FFPH FRCGP) 

Chief Inspector of General Practice

Updated 8 May 2015

The practice is rated as good for the care of people with long term conditions. The practice offered specialist clinics and appointments for conditions such as asthma, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) and diabetes.

Longer appointments and home visits were available for patients with long-term conditions and annual reviews were arranged to check their health and medication needs were being met. The practice was proactive in undertaking regular prescribing reviews for patients with long term conditions who were prescribed multiple medicines and had a lead GP with a special interest in medicine management who worked closely with the area medicines management team.

For those patients with the most complex needs the named GP worked with relevant health care professionals to deliver a multidisciplinary package of care. Community nurses and staff from the community palliative care team attended regular meetings with the GPs and nursing staff, where the needs of patients with chronic and terminal illnesses were discussed.

Influenza vaccinations were routinely offered to patients with long term conditions to help protect them against the virus and associated illness.

Updated 8 May 2015

The practice is rated as good for the care of families, children and young people. Expectant mothers were supported by the midwife linked to the practice and mother and baby clinics were offered for post-natal care as well as baby checks with the GP. There were systems to identify children who may be at risk and safeguarding procedures to help ensure concerns were followed up.

Immunisation rates were relatively high for all standard childhood immunisations. Appointments were available outside of school hours and the premises were suitable for children and babies. The practice prioritised appointment requests for children and there were emergency processes and referrals made for children who had a sudden deterioration in health.

The practice offered information about sexual health and screening for sexually transmitted diseases. Follow-up support was offered where necessary, and a lead GP within the practice had a special interest in women’s health and offered contraceptive advice and pre-conception counselling.

Updated 8 May 2015

The practice is rated as good for the care of older people. Older people received care and treatment relevant to their age group, including blood tests and blood pressure monitoring. They received routine annual health checks to review their medicines and general well-being.

The practice offered proactive, personalised care to meet the needs of older people and was responsive in offering home visits and rapid access appointments for those with enhanced needs. All patients over the age of 75 had been allocated a named GP who was responsible for their care.

Annual influenza vaccinations were routinely offered to older people to help protect them against the virus and associated illness. The practice held regular meetings with community based specialist teams to share information and provide effective treatments and support to older people identified with complex conditions, such as dementia and conditions associated with end of life care. The practice had a lead GP with a special interest in palliative care who provided overall case management, including guidance for staff and support for carers of older people.

Updated 8 May 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 patient population, those recently retired and students had been identified and the practice had adjusted the services it provided to help 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. For example, NHS health checks were offered to patients between the ages of 40 and 74 and the practice used these checks to promote healthy lifestyles and identify early risk factors that required follow-up.

The practice offered advice and support to patients returning to work following sick leave, including advice about phased return options and ‘fitness to work’ advice and notifications.

Updated 8 May 2015

The practice was rated as good for the care of people experiencing poor mental health. The practice had procedures for identifying patients who had mental health needs. Regular checks were offered and follow-up contact was made where patients had not attended for appointments. The practice staff had received training on how to respond and prioritise appointments for patients with mental health needs and adopted a flexible approach in the support it offered. This included offering same day appointments and referral to other service providers for on-going support where required, including crisis support.

The practice worked with multi-disciplinary teams and community specialists in providing support to patients with mental health needs and those with dementia, for example, the community mental health team and mental health assessment specialists.

Updated 8 May 2015

The practice is rated as good for the care of people whose circumstances may make them vulnerable. The practice was responsive in providing care in patient’s homes who found it difficult to attend the practice. The practice carried out annual health checks and offered longer appointments if required. For example, for patients with a learning disability and their carers. The practice worked with multi-disciplinary teams in the case management of vulnerable people and offered information about various support groups and voluntary organisations, for example, local alcohol support services.

Practice staff knew how to recognise signs of abuse in vulnerable adults and children. They were aware of their responsibilities regarding information sharing, documentation of safeguarding concerns and how to contact relevant agencies in and out of working hours.