Letter from the Chief Inspector of General Practice
We carried out a previous announced inspection of this practice on16 April 2015. Breaches of legal requirements were found. Overall, we rated the practice as requires improvement. After the comprehensive inspection the practice wrote to us to say what they would do to meet the following legal requirements set out in the Health and Social Care Act (HSCA) 2008:
-
Regulation 15 HSCA (Regulated Activities) Regulations 2014 Premises and equipment
-
Regulation 12 HSCA (Regulated Activities) Regulations 2014 Safe care and treatment
-
Regulation 10 HSCA (Regulated Activities) Regulations 2014 Dignity and respect
We undertook this comprehensive inspection to check that the practice had followed their plan and to confirm that they now met legal requirements. You can read the report from our last comprehensive inspection by selecting the ‘all reports’ link for Springwell House on our website at www.cqc.org.uk.
Overall, the practice is rated as requires improvement.
Our key findings were as follows:
-
The practice had taken action to address most of the concerns raised at the last CQC inspection. They had developed a clear vision, strategy and plan to deliver high quality care and promote good outcomes for patients. However, there were areas where sufficient progress had not been made. This included infection control procedures, medicines management and arrangements to deal with medical emergencies.
- There was an open and transparent approach to safety and an effective system in place for reporting and recording significant events.
- Further improvements were required to how the practice assessed and managed risks.
- Patients said they were treated with compassion, dignity and respect and they were involved in their care and decisions about their treatment. The practice had improved their approach to patient confidentiality.
- Information about services and how to complain was available and easy to understand.
- Patients said they found it easy to make an appointment with a named GP and that there was continuity of care, with urgent appointments available the same day.
-
Audits were recorded and used to improve patient care.
-
There was a clear leadership structure and staff felt supported by management. The practice had developed a five year business development plan. Staff told us they were aware of the strategy for the practice and felt included and involved in decisions about the future for the practice.
There were areas where the practice must make improvements. The practice must:-
-
Improve the arrangements to maintain a clean environment, and assess the risk, detection and prevention of the spread of infections.
-
Check the emergency oxygen and defibrillator on a regular basis to ensure they are functioning and ready to use in an emergency.
-
Follow best practice guidelines for the management of the cold chain for temperature sensitive medicines.
There were also areas where the practice should make improvements. The practice should:-
-
Make sure the practice nurse administered vaccines using directions that were in date and had been produced in line with legal requirements and national guidance.
-
Display the results of the latest CQC inspection, including the ratings awarded, prominently within the practice, as well as on the practice website.
I am placing this practice in special measures. Where a practice is rated as inadequate for one of the five key questions or one of the six population groups and after re-inspection has failed to make sufficient improvement, and is still rated as inadequate for any key question or population group, we place it into special measures. This practice has made progress, but the safety domain needs more work therefore we are placing this practice into special measures.
Practices placed in special measures will be inspected again within six months. If insufficient improvements have been made so a rating of inadequate remains for any population group, key question or overall, we will take action in line with our enforcement procedures to begin the process of preventing the provider from operating the service. This will lead to cancelling their registration or varying the terms of their registration within six months if they do not improve.
The practice will be kept under review and if needed could be escalated to urgent enforcement action. Where necessary, another inspection will be conducted within a further six months, and if there is not enough improvement we will move to close the service.
Special measures will give people who use the practice the reassurance that the care they get should improve.
Professor Steve Field CBE FRCP FFPH FRCGP
Chief Inspector of General Practice