Letter from the Chief Inspector of General Practice
We carried out an announced comprehensive inspection at Rawnsley Surgery on 25 September 2017. Overall the practice is now rated as Good.
The practice had previously been inspected on 27 April 2015. Following this comprehensive inspection the overall rating for the practice was Requires Improvement. A total of four breaches of legal requirements were found and four requirement notices were served. The practice provided us with an action plan detailing how they were going to make the required improvements in relation to:
Regulation 12 of the Health and Social Care Act 2008 (Regulated Activities) 2014: Safe care and treatment.
Regulation 17 of the Health and Social Care Act 2008 (Regulated Activities) 2014: Good Governance.
Regulation 18 of the Health and Social Care Act 2008 (Regulated Activities) 2014: Staffing.
Regulation 19 of the Health and Social Care Act 2008 (Regulated Activities) 2014: Fit and proper persons employed.
The practice has now registered as a new single handed GP having previously been a two partner GP practice.
You can read the report from our last comprehensive inspection, by selecting the 'all reports' link for Rawnsley Surgery on our website at www.cqc.org.uk.
Our key findings were as follows:
- There was an effective system in place for reporting and recording significant events. Staff understood and fulfilled their responsibilities to raise concerns, and to report incidents and near misses.
- A formal system had been implemented to record, review, discuss and act on external alerts, such as those from the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA).
- The provider had implemented systems for identifying and assessing the risks to the health and safety of patients, staff and visitors. However further strengthening of these systems was required.
- The practice had appropriate procedures for the storage of emergency equipment and medicines. Regular checks were undertaken to ensure they were fit for use.
- Staff assessed patients’ needs and delivered care in line with current evidence based guidance. Staff had been trained to provide them with the skills, knowledge and experience to deliver care and treatment.
- Patients said they were treated with kindness, dignity and respect and they were involved in their care and decisions about their treatment.
- Information about services and how to complain was available and easy to understand. Improvements were made to the quality of care and access to services as a result of complaints and concerns.
- Data from the national GP patient survey published in July 2017 showed patient satisfaction was comparable to local Clinical Commissioning Group (CCG) and national averages in most areas. Where results were below the national average, more recent feedback obtained highlighted improvements had been made.
- There was a clear leadership structure in place and staff felt supported by the management team. The practice responded positively to feedback from staff and patients.
- The practice proactively sought feedback from staff and patients, which it acted on.
- Most patients found it easy to make an appointment, with urgent appointments available the same day.
- Governance arrangements had improved to include the formalisation of clinical and regular practice meetings that included the wider practice team.
- The practice was limited by the size of their facilities; however it was equipped to treat patients and meet their needs.
- A recently implemented programme of clinical audits demonstrated that a commitment to quality improvement in patient outcomes was in place.
The areas where the provider must make improvements are:
- Ensure care and treatment is provided in a safe way to patients. In particular:
- Ensure patients have received the recommended monitoring before prescriptions for high risk medicines are issued.
- Implement an effective system to ensure that patients on repeat medications receive regular and appropriate medication reviews.
The areas where the provider should make improvements are:
- Strengthen the prescription tracking system to minimise the risk of fraud.
- Explore ways to increase the number of patients identified who also act as carers.
- Further improve the health and safety arrangements by documenting the fire risk assessment and completing a hard wire check for the building in line with statutory health and safety regulations.
Professor Steve Field (CBE FRCP FFPH FRCGP)
Chief Inspector of General Practice