Background to this inspection
Updated
28 October 2021
Dr R K Arora is located in West Bromwich at:
Lyng Centre For Health & Social Care
Frank Fisher Way
West Bromwich
West Midlands
B70 7AW
The provider is registered with CQC to deliver the Regulated Activities; diagnostic and screening procedures, family planning services, maternity and midwifery services and treatment of disease, disorder or injury and surgical procedures.
The practice is situated within the Black Country and West Birmingham Clinical Commissioning Group (CCG) and delivers General Medical Services (GMS) to a patient population of about 8400. This is part of a contract held with NHS England. The practice is part of a wider network of GP practices.
Information published by Public Health England shows that deprivation within the practice population group is in the second lowest decile (two 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 63% White, 24% Asian, 7% Black, 4% Mixed, and 2% Other.
There is a team of eight GPs (3 male and 5 female). The practice has a team of two nurses and one health care assistant. The GPs are supported at the practice by a team of reception/administration staff. The practice manager and assistant practice manager provide managerial oversight.
Due to the enhanced infection prevention and control measures put in place since the pandemic and in line with the national guidance, most GP appointments were telephone consultations. If the GP needs to see a patient face-to-face then the patient is offered an appointment. When the practice is closed the out of hours services are provided by NHS111.
Updated
28 October 2021
We carried out an announced inspection at Dr R K Arora on 23 September 2021. Overall, the practice is rated as Good.
Set out the ratings for each key question
Safe - Good
Effective - Good
Caring – Good (rating carried forward from previous inspection)
Responsive – Good (rating carried forward from previous inspection)
Well-led - Good
Following our previous inspection on 16 January 2020 the practice was rated Requires Improvement overall and for the key questions of effective and well led. The practice had achieved a rating of good for providing safe, caring and responsive services.
The full reports for previous inspections can be found by selecting the ‘all reports’ link for Dr R K Arora on our website at www.cqc.org.uk
Why we carried out this inspection
This inspection was a focused inspection of the Safe, Effective and Well-led key questions to follow up on any breaches of regulations and areas the practice should improve that were identified at the previous inspection.
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 with consent from the provider and in line with all data protection and information governance requirements.
This included:
- Conducting clinical staff interviews using video conferencing
- Completing clinical searches on the practice’s patient records system and discussing findings with the provider
- Reviewing patient records to identify issues and clarify actions taken by the provider
- Requesting evidence from the provider
- A short site visit
Our findings
We based our judgement of the quality of care at this service 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.
We have rated this practice as Good overall and good for all population groups with the exception of Working age people (including those recently retired and students) which we rated as requires improvement.
We found that:
- The practice had recruited a number of staff within the past 12 months and there was now a stable workforce in place. The management team had been strengthened with the addition of an assistant practice manager and one of the salaried GPs was becoming a GP partner.
- The new GP partner had implemented processes for the continuous monitoring of practice procedures, clinical outcomes and clinical registers to ensure improvements were maintained.
- The practice adjusted how it delivered services to meet the needs of patients during the COVID-19 pandemic. This included enhanced infection control procedures.
- Governance arrangements had been strengthened to ensure risks to patients were considered, managed and mitigated appropriately.
- Effective procedures for the management of medicines had been strengthened to ensure patients received the appropriate reviews. This included the appropriate monitoring of patients on hypnotic medicines.
- Monitoring reports were in place to review quality indicators and regular audits were completed to improve patient outcomes.
- Risk management processes were in place and we found assessments of risks had been completed. These included fire safety, health and safety, and infection control. This ensured that risks had been considered to ensure the safety of staff and patients and to mitigate any future risks.
- The way the practice was led and managed promoted the delivery of high-quality, person-centre care.
Whilst we found no breaches of regulations, the provider should:
- Continue to encourage patients to attend cervical screening appointments.
- Continue to strengthen processes for the reviewing and actioning of safety alerts.
Details of our findings and the evidence supporting our ratings are set out in the evidence tables.
Dr Rosie Benneyworth BM BS BMedSci MRCGP
Chief Inspector of Primary Medical Services and Integrated Care