Dr R K Arora

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