Medical Centre www.birstallmedicalcentre.co.uk
4 Whiles Lane, Birstall, Leicester, LE4 4EE,Tel: 0116 2169773 Fax: 0844 815 1435
Branch: Border Drive surgery 2 Border Drive, Leicester, LE4 2PF
Dr Karnail Singh Shergill MBBS MRCGP MRCPI FRCPI (Male) GP
Dr Jasbir Singh Rana MBBS (Male) GP
Dr Meha Chandarana MBBS MA DFSRH DRCOG (Female) GP
17th September 2015
Dear patient
Care Quality Commissioning report about Birstall Medical Centre
I am writing to inform you on 21st and 29th May 2015, the Care Quality Commission (CQC), the
independent regulator of health and social care in England carried out its inspection of our practice.
A report has been issued presenting the findings of the quality of care provided and indicates that our
overall rating is considered inadequate and as a result we have been placed in special measures and
will be revisited for another inspection within 6 months.
The issues in the report identified the need for improvement in a number of areas including
recruitment checks on staff prior to employment; robustness of processes; learning from complaints
and investigation of serious incidents.
I would like to reassure you that the quality and standard of care that we provide to our patients is of
vital importance to our team here at Birstall Medical Centre. In response to the inspection we
systematically addressed each of the findings of the report to make appropriate improvements and
will continue to provide services to you meeting your care needs.
We immediately put in place robust systems addressing all our primary medical service processes.
We ensure the full investigation of serious incidents are 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.
We made improvements to maintain a safe, effective, caring, and responsive and well led GP Service.
We increased clinical and non-clinical staff levels to support the care we provide to our patients. All
staff are experienced and appropriately qualified to maintain high standards of patient care, in
particular for people whose circumstances may make them vulnerable.
All clinical staff are vetted accordingly to check for professional accreditation and references. Non
clinical staff are also recruited subject to the Disclosure and Barring Service and 2 satisfactory
references, one of which must be from a previous employer.
Over the last 3 months we have introduced 3 new nurse practitioners who are also independent
prescribers. We have plans to add 2 more permanent doctors to the clinical team to improve
continuity of care and reduce the number of locums used. This will increase appointments for our
patients overall. New clinical staff will also carry out patient reviews and proactively manage the care
of patients facing chronic diseases.
Staff have appropriate policies and guidance to carry out their roles in a safe and effective manner
which is reflective of what we are required to do as a practice. This new structure will enable us to
have better patient intervention, managing appropriate referrals and develop joint and shared care
plans with you.
We have formal governance arrangements in place including systems for assessing and monitoring
risks and the quality of services
We have also initiated positive service improvement and all staff are committed to improving
outcomes for 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.
We adhere to a complaints policy and ensure 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.
We have made these changes to assure patients, that every contact counts and that your care will be
managed in a timely and efficient manner.
We were encouraged to see that the CQC key findings indicated that our 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 to ensure the experiences of patients and the patient voice is key to our planning including
through our proactive Patient Participation Group who we will work with collaboratively to ensure we
are working towards excellence in all areas of patient care.
The full report of the CQC inspection can be viewed at www.cqc.org.uk. If you do have any concerns
please do not hesitate to contact our Practice Manager, Michelle Salimi on 0116 2169773 or email
birstall.medicalcentre@nhs.net.
Yours faithfully
Serinda Shergill
Business Manager
Birstall Medical Centre