Iridium Medical Practice

We carried out an announced inspection at Iridium Medical Practice between 27 April 2022 and 6 May 2022. Overall, the practice is rated as Good.

The ratings for each key question are as follows:

Safe - Good

Effective - Good

Caring - Good

Responsive - Good

Well-led - Good

The practice has not been previously inspected under their current CQC registration.

The full reports for previous inspections can be found by selecting the ‘all reports’ link for Iridium Medical Practice on our website at www.cqc.org.uk

Why we carried out this inspection:

This inspection was a comprehensive review of a new provider.

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 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 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

We found that:

• The practice provided care in a way that kept patients safe and protected them from avoidable harm.
• Safeguarding arrangements in particular were well established to help support and protect the practice’s most vulnerable patients.
• We found appropriate recruitment checks were in place for staff working at the practice
• We found effective systems for safely managing medicines and our review of clinical records found patients on high risk medicines were appropriately monitored.
• The practice learned from incidents and complaints and implemented systems for minimising the risk of reoccurrence.
• The practice premises were generally well maintained and infection prevention and control measures were implemented to minimise the risks to patients. However, some of the furnishings were not appropriate for a clinical environment.
• Patients received effective care and treatment that met their needs.
• Our review of clinical records found patients with long-term conditions received appropriate management and follow-up.
• Staff received appropriate training and support in their roles.
• The practice made effective use of social prescribing support available to ensure the health and wellbeing of their patients.
• Staff dealt with patients with kindness and respect and involved them in decisions about their care. The practice was aware that there had been some concerns around reception and were taking action to improve and develop the reception team to improve the patient experience.
• The practice adjusted how it delivered services to meet the needs of patients during the COVID-19 pandemic. Patients could access care and treatment in a timely way.
• The way the practice was led and managed promoted the delivery of high-quality, person-centre care.

We saw the following outstanding practice:

• The practice was proactive in trying to address health inequalities and supporting their most vulnerable and complex patients. The practice actively referred patients and worked with two social prescribing teams which met different levels of patient needs. Data from the social prescribing teams showed the practice had referred nearly 400 patients to these services in the last year. The practice was able to provide numerous case studies of improved patient health and wellbeing as a result of these referrals and provided rooms for events such as stress management courses. There was a dedicated GP that worked closely with the social prescribers to provide holistic patient centred care. These patients had multiple social and health issues and made frequent contact with emergency and other services. The working relationship ensured good continuity and oversight of patient care and helped reduce the burden on other services. The practice was also a high referrer to IRIS (a service supporting patients at risk of domestic abuse).

Whilst we found no breaches of regulations, the provider should:

• Replace chairs in clinical rooms that cannot effectively be cleaned.
• Improve frequency of fire drills to ensure staff know what to do in the event of a fire.
• Improve uptake of child immunisations and cancer screening programmes.
• Continue to improve patient experience of the service.
• Continue to take action to ensure the well being of all staff.
• Hold regular meetings across all staff to ensure timely sharing of information.

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