Medical Centre www.birstallmedicalcentre.co.uk
4 Whiles Lane, Birstall, Leicester, LE4 4EE,Tel: 0116 2169773 Fax: 0844 815 1435
Press release
Patients reassured services are safe at Birstall Medical Centre
A local GP practice is reassuring patients registered with them that services provided at the practice are safe and that a reorganisation will mean a stronger team will be delivering high quality services.
The Care Quality Commissioning (CQC) has recently announced it has issued an inadequate rating to Birstall Medical Practice and has placed them into special measures following an inspection in May 2015.
Following the concerns raised by the CQC the team at the practice immediately implemented an action plan which addresses all the issues raised and patients should be reassured that services at the practice are safe.
Serinda Shergill, Business Manager at Birstall Medical Centre said: “The quality and standard of care that we provide to our patients is of vital importance and in response to the inspection we immediately reorganised our systems and recruited new clinical and non-clinical staff to facilitate improvements to the care we provide to our patients to maintain a safe, effective, caring, responsive and well led GP service.”
New clinical staff have been recruited to increase availability of appointments for patients and to carry out patient reviews and proactively manage the care of patients facing long term management of a chronic disease. All staff are experienced and appropriately qualified to maintain high standards of patient care in particular for people whose circumstances may make them vulnerable.
This new structure is expected to enable better patient intervention, manage appropriate referrals and develop joint and shared care plans.
Formal governance arrangements and robust systems are now in place addressing all primary medical service processes. We ensure a full investigation of serious incidents is undertaken and take the knowledge and learning to prevent re-occurrence and ensure the safety of our services, making them the best they can be for all our patients.
Doctor’s bags are checked on a monthly basis for expired drugs and a log maintained by a member of the clinical team. A new policy for incoming mail is in place to ensure it is dealt with and actioned accordingly by the clinical nursing team and where appropriate, forwarded to the GP.
The practice adheres to a complaints policy and ensures that apologies are given where necessary. Complaints and significant events are dealt with by the practice manager who carries out an internal review and reports back to GP/staff at both clinical and full practice with lessons learned, and then reports back to the patient in a timely and appropriate manner.
Serinda continued “We have initiated positive service improvements and all staff are committed to improving outcomes for patients. Staff have appropriate policies and guidance to carry out their roles in a safe and effective manner. We have developed better systems for reporting and with a sound understanding of the differing needs of our patients; our improved action plans have reflected these needs.”
“It is encouraging that the CQC key findings indicated patients were cared for in a well maintained and spacious environment that was equipped to meet their needs. Our patients were positive about their interactions with staff and said they were treated with compassion and dignity and indicated urgent appointments are usually available on the day they were requested. We will build on this, particularly working with our Patient Participation Group (PPG) to ensure the experiences of patients and the patient voice is key to our planning.
Edmund Chambers, who is the PPG Chair, welcomed the changes that the practice has implemented, “The PPG was obviously concerned at the areas that were identified as in need of improvement. We have discussed the background and reasons with the practice, together with the steps that were being taken to address them.
“The Group gives its full support to these measures, and was glad to note that a number of them were already in place. It accepted that some others would take longer to achieve and will carefully monitor progress at its subsequent meetings.”
Serinda concluded: “We will continue to liaise with our PPG group to get views of our patients and work collaboratively towards excellence in all areas of patient care.”
The full report of the CQC inspection can be viewed at www.cqc.org.uk orwww.birstallmedicalcentre.co.uk If patients have any concerns they should contact our Practice Manager, Michelle Salimi on 0116 2169773 or email at [email protected]
For more information please contact:
Rose Uwins, Marketing, Communications and Engagement Manager,
NHS Arden & GEM Commissioning Support Unit,
07795 452 846 or [email protected]
