14 February 2018
During an inspection looking at part of the service
We carried out an announced comprehensive inspection at Abbey Meads Medical Group on 28 and 29 October 2014. We found breaches in the regulations relating to safe and well-led services, and the overall rating for the practice was requires improvement. The full comprehensive report for the October 2014 inspection can be found by selecting the ‘all reports’ link for Abbey Meads Medical Group on our website at www.cqc.org.uk.
We carried out a further announced comprehensive inspection of Abbey Meads Medical Group on 6 June 2017, to confirm that the practice had carried out their plan to meet the legal requirements in relation to the breaches in regulations that we identified in our previous inspection on 28 and 29 October 2014. At this inspection we found breaches in the regulations relating to safe, effective, responsive and well-led services. As a result of these findings, the overall rating for the practice continued to be requires improvement. The issues were:
- The practice did not ensure there were systems in place to enable the registered person to assess, monitor and improve the quality and safety of the service and which ensured scrutiny and overall responsibility is held by the partners.
- The practice did not maintain adequate records of decisions made and action taken by the partners in relation to their governance role.
- The practice did not adequately assess the risks to the security of confidential information, medicines and equipment caused by working in a shared building and take appropriate steps to minimise these risks.
- The practice did not ensure letters responding to patients complaints included information about how to escalate the complaints if they were not satisfied with the practice’ response.
- Not all staff had received training essential to their role. For example, seven clinical staff had not received training on safeguarding children and vulnerable adults relevant to their role.
Following the inspection on 6 June 2017, the provider sent us an action plan that set out the actions they would take to meet the breached regulations. We then undertook an announced focused inspection on 14 February 2018 to confirm that the practice had carried out their plan to meet the legal requirements in relation to the breaches in regulations that we identified in our previous inspection on 6 June 2017. For this reason we only rated the location for the key questions to which this inspection related. This report covers our findings in relation to those requirements and also additional improvements made since our last inspection.
This report covers the announced follow-up inspection on 14 February 2018. We found the provider had made improvements since our inspection on 6 June 2017. The information we received enabled us to find the provider was meeting the regulations that it had previously breached for safe, effective, responsive and well-led services.
The comprehensive follow-up report for the June 2017 inspection can be found by selecting the ‘all reports’ link for Abbey Meads Medical Group on our website at www.cqc.org.uk.
Overall the practice is now rated as Good.
Our key findings were as follows:
- The practice put systems in place to enable the registered person to assess, monitor and improve the quality and safety of the service. These systems ensured scrutiny and overall responsibility is held by the partners.
- The practice recorded decisions made and action taken by the partners in relation to their governance role.
- The practice adequately assessed the risks to the security of confidential information, medicines and equipment caused by working in a shared building and took appropriate steps to minimise these risks.
- The practice ensured letters responding to patients complaints included information about how to escalate the complaints if they were not satisfied with the practice’ response.
- All staff had received training essential to their role. This included training on safeguarding children and vulnerable adults relevant to their role.
Professor Steve Field (CBE FRCP FFPH FRCGP)
Chief Inspector of General Practice