19 July 2017
During a routine inspection
Letter from the Chief Inspector of General Practice
We previously carried out an announced comprehensive inspection at Springfield GP Led Health Centre on 02 November 2016. The overall rating for the practice was good. Within that overall rating the practice was rated as requires improvement for providing safe services. This was because it was not meeting legal requirements in relation to some aspects of:
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Infection prevention and control.
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Medicines storage.
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Disclosure and Barring Service (DBS) checks for staff. DBS
The full comprehensive report of the November 2016 inspection can be found at www.cqc.org.uk/location/1-584576678.
This inspection on 19 July 2017 was an announced focused inspection and was carried out to confirm that the practice had completed its plan to meet the legal requirements in relation to the breaches in regulations that we identified in our previous inspection on 02 November 2016. This report covers our findings in relation to those requirements.
Overall the practice is rated as good.
Our key findings were as follows:
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The practice took action to mitigate risks associated with the spread of infection and with legionella.
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Arrangements for storing medicines requiring cold storage were robust.
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A system was in place to ensure all staff received DBS checks in line with the practice’s policy.
The practice had also acted on recommendations we made at our previous inspection and implemented additional improvements:
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The practice had put in place a system for routinely and regularly checking the defibrillator to ensure it was in good working order at all times. The checks ensured the defibrillator battery was charged and the defibrillator pads were within their expiry date. A log was kept to record when the checks were completed.
At our previous inspection on 02 November 2016 we rated the practice as requires improvement for providing safe services because not all risks to the health and safety of service users were being managed and mitigated, some medicines were not stored safely, and there were gaps in the information the provider maintained in respect of some of the staff it employed. At this inspection we found these shortfalls had been remedied. Consequently, the practice is rated as good for providing safe services.
Professor Steve Field CBE FRCP FFPH FRCGP
Chief Inspector of General Practice