Archived: Ejaz Medical Centre

Updated 1 October 2015

Ejaz Medical Centre is located in the Winson Green area of Birmingham and provides primary medical services to patients. The practice is part of a group of four practices known as the Heathford Group which operates across the city of Birmingham. The practice has four GP partners and a salaried GP (all male), and a female trainee GP, a practice manager, nursing staff including one practice nurse and five health care assistants (HCAs), administrative and reception staff. There were 3244 patients registered with the practice at the time of the inspection.

The practice is open from 9am to 1pm and 3pm to 6pm on Mondays, Tuesdays, Thursdays and Fridays. The practice opens for half a day from 9am to 12pm on Wednesdays and is closed at weekends. Home visits are available for patients who are too ill to attend the practice for appointments. Ejaz medical Centre operates a walk in service during these times and appointments are available between 12pm and 1pm and 5pm till 6pm. Patients can also attend for appointments at any of the four practices within the Heathford Group and information about appointment times is given in the practice leaflet and on the group website. GPs have access to patient records through their electronic system at any of these practices to support this. The practice does not currently have its own individual website but patients can order prescriptions online through the practice group website. Details for this website are given on the practice leaflet.

The practice does not provide an out-of-hours service but has alternative arrangements in place for patients to be seen when the practice is closed. For example, if patients call the practice when it is closed, an answerphone message gives the telephone number they should ring depending on the circumstances. Information on the out-of-hours service is provided to patients and is available on the practice leaflet or on the practice group website.

The practice treats patients of all ages and provides a range of medical services. The practice provides a number of clinics such as disease management clinics which includes asthma, diabetes, heart disease and lung diseases known as chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD). Other clinics include minor surgery, mental health, wound management and smoking cessation.

Ejaz Medical Centre has a General Medical Services (GMS) contract. The GMS contract is the contract between general practices and NHS England for delivering primary care services to local communities.

Ejaz Medical Centre is an approved training practice for trainee GPs. The practice has three qualified GP trainers who provide training to newly qualified doctors at the practice. The practice also provides medical education for Foundation Year Two (FY2) doctors. FY2 doctors are on a two-year, general postgraduate medical training programme which forms the bridge between medical school and specialist and general practice training. The practice also provides training opportunities for student nurses wanting to gain experience of general practice.

Updated 1 October 2015

Letter from the Chief Inspector of General Practice

We inspected this service on 29 June 2015 as part of our new comprehensive inspection programme.

The overall rating for this service is good. We found the practice to be good in the safe, effective, caring, responsive and well-led domains. The practice was good at providing services for older people, people with long term conditions, families, children and young people, the working age population and those recently retired people in vulnerable circumstances and people experiencing poor mental health.

Our key findings were as follows:

• Staff understood and fulfilled their responsibilities to raise concerns and report incidents and near misses.
• Patients said they were treated with compassion, dignity and respect and they were involved in their care and decisions about their treatment. Information was provided to help patients understand the care available to them.
• There were systems in place to keep patients safe from the risk and spread of infection.

• The practice had good facilities and was well equipped to treat patients and meet their needs.
• Information about how to complain was available for patients should they wish to make a complaint.
• The Quality and Outcomes Framework (QOF) data showed the practice was performing highly compared with local and national averages, achieving an overall score of 98.5% in the 2014 to 2015 year.
• The practice held regular multidisciplinary clinical team meetings to discuss the needs of complex patients, for example those with end of life care needs or children who were considered to be at risk of harm.
• The practice had an open culture that was effective and encouraged staff to share their views through staff meetings and practice meetings.

However there were areas of practice where the provider needs to make improvements.

Importantly the provider should:

• Establish a system for logging verbal complaints received by the practice so that patterns and trends can be identified.

• Review their recruitment policy and procedures to ensure that all checks required under current legislation are carried out when staff are recruited.
• Establish a system to ensure that minutes of all meetings accurately record discussions that take place to provide an audit trail of information sharing, learning and outcomes.
• Ensure all staff are aware of their role and responsibilities when carrying out chaperone duties.

Professor Steve Field (CBE FRCP FFPH FRCGP) 

Chief Inspector of General Practice

Updated 1 October 2015

The practice is rated as good for the care of people with long term conditions. The GPs and nursing staff worked together in chronic disease management and patients at risk of hospital admission were identified as a priority. Longer appointments and home visits were available when needed. Practice staff held a register of patients who had long term conditions and carried out regular reviews. For patients with the most complex needs, GPs worked with relevant health and care professionals to deliver a multidisciplinary package of care.

Updated 1 October 2015

The practice is rated as good for the care of families, children and young people. Appointments were available outside of school hours and the premises suitable for children and babies. All consultation rooms were on the ground floor which made the practice accessible for pushchairs. The practice offered appointments at other practices within their group and requesting repeat medicines could be ordered online. There were policies, procedures and contact numbers to support and guide staff should they have any safeguarding concerns about children. The clinical team offered immunisations to children in line with the national immunisation programme. Immunisation rates were comparable to local and national averages.

There were systems in place to identify and follow up children living in disadvantaged circumstances and who were at risk, for example, children and young people who had a high number of attendances at the accident and emergency (A&E) department of the local hospital. The practice also worked closely with local schools and health visitors when younger patients were experiencing difficulties.

Updated 1 October 2015

The practice is rated as good for the care of older people. The practice offered proactive, personalised care to meet the needs of the older people in its population and had a range of enhanced services, for example, in dementia and end of life care. Nationally reported data showed that the practice performed well against indicators relating to the care of older people. For example, the practice maintained a register of patients in need of palliative care. The practice held regular multidisciplinary integrated care meetings where all patients on the palliative care register were discussed.

The practice offered home visits and rapid access appointments for those patients with complex healthcare needs. Patients over 75 years of age were offered annual health reviews.

Updated 1 October 2015

The practice is rated as good for the care of working age people (including those recently retired and students). The practice offered services that were accessible, flexible and provided continuity of care. Patients were able to access appointments at times suitable to them at any of the practices within the Heathford Group. Extended hours were offered through early morning and late evening appointments.

The practice was proactive in offering a number of online services, including booking and cancelling appointments, requesting repeat medicines and updating patient details. They also provided a full range of health promotion and screening clinics that reflected the needs of this age group. The practice nurses had oversight for the management of a number of clinical areas, including immunisations, cervical cytology and some long term conditions. The healthcare assistants led the smoking cessation clinic in the practice.

Updated 1 October 2015

The practice is rated as good for the care of people experiencing poor mental health (including people with dementia). The practice carried out annual health checks for patients with poor mental health and all of these patients had received a follow-up. Longer appointments were available for these patients if they needed them.

The practice regularly worked with multi-disciplinary teams in the case management of people experiencing poor mental health, including those with dementia. It carried out advance care planning for patients with dementia. The practice had a system in place to follow up patients who had attended accident and emergency (A&E) including those that may have been experiencing poor mental health.

Updated 1 October 2015

The practice is rated as good for the care of people whose circumstances may make them vulnerable. The practice held a register of patients living in vulnerable circumstances including people with a learning disability. The practice was committed to meeting the needs of vulnerable people and provided a caring and responsive service for them. Alerts were placed on these patients’ records so that staff were aware they may need to be prioritised for appointments and offered additional attention such as longer appointments.

The practice regularly worked with multi-disciplinary teams in the case management of vulnerable people. It confirmed that vulnerable patients were informed about how to access various support groups and voluntary organisations. Staff knew how to recognise signs of abuse in vulnerable adults and children. Staff demonstrated to us they were aware of their responsibilities regarding information sharing, documentation of safeguarding concerns and how to contact relevant agencies in both normal working hours and out-of-hours.