Hodnet Medical Centre

We carried out an announced inspection at Hodnet Medial Practice on 14 March 2022. Overall, the practice is rated as Good.

The ratings for each key question are:

Safe - Good .

Effective – Good

Caring – Good

Responsive – Good

Well-led – Good

Why we carried out this inspection

This comprehensive inspection was carried out following changes to registration and legal entity of the practice from a partnership to a single handed GP led service. This was the first inspection since this change.

The full reports for previous inspections can be found by selecting the ‘all reports’ link for Dr N Raichura & Dr J Mehta on our website at www.cqc.org.uk

How we carried out the inspection/review

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

• 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.
• Patients received effective care and treatment that met their needs.
• Staff dealt with patients with kindness and respect and involved them in decisions about their care.
• 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. There was good and effective telephone access with very minimal waiting times.
• The way the practice was led and managed promoted the delivery of high-quality, person-centre care.
• The practice was responsive to the needs of patients living in nursing homes. A regular GP visited each home at least twice a week to ensure patients’ needs were met. For example, on admission to a nursing home a patient’s full medical history, blood screening and medicines review was undertaken by the GP in a half hour visit and ongoing treatment plan decided

We saw areas of outstanding practice:

The national patient survey results showed very high patient satisfaction. The practice had scored above local and national average in all of the indicators within the survey. For example,

1. A 100% of respondents stated that during their last GP appointment they had confidence and trust in the healthcare professional they saw or spoke to.
2. A 100% of respondents stated that during their last GP appointment they were involved as much as they wanted to be in decisions about their care and treatment.
3. 94% of respondents responded positively to how easy it was to get through to someone at their GP practice on the phone.

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

• Run searches on historic safety alerts to ensure continued compliance.
• Ensure all medicine reviews are structured to ensure they identify any outstanding monitoring requirements.
• Include a more detailed infection control plan to better illustrate what action is being taken and by whom.
• Consider the benefits of providing protected time for undertaking additional roles such as Infection, Prevention and Control.
• Record and investigate verbal complaints.
• Consider further developing the Patient Participation Group and to introduce patient satisfaction surveys for elements of the service provision.

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