We carried out an announced inspection of The Beaumont Practice (the practice) on 11 August 2021. We have not revised the ratings from our previous inspection, which remain:
Overall, the practice is rated as Requires improvement.
The ratings for each key question are:
- Safe - Inadequate
- Effective – Requires improvement
- Caring - Good
- Responsive - Good
- Well-led – Requires improvement
The full report of our previous inspection on 30 April 2021 can be found on our website at:
www.cqc.org.uk/location/1-8577962965/reports
At our previous inspection we identified concerns over safety at the practice, regarding the appropriate and safe use of medicines. We found the practice’s prescribing of the high-risk medicines was not always managed in a way that kept patients safe. Nor were we assured drug safety alerts were being actioned appropriately, or at all, to ensure the safety and wellbeing of patients. We served a warning notice under Section 29 of the Health and Social Care Act 2008 in relation to breaches of Regulation 12 of the Health and Social Care Act 2008 (Regulated Activities) Regulations 2014 and a requirement notice in relation to Regulation 17 of the Health and Social Care Act 2008 (Regulated Activities) Regulations 2014.
The practice told us it had taken immediate steps to address our concerns and subsequently sent us a plan of the actions taken.
Why we carried out this inspection
We carried out this focussed inspection on 11 August 2021 looking at the identified breaches set out in the Regulation 12 warning notice, under the key question Safe, and to review the action taken by the practice. We found the practice had instigated actions which were sufficient for us to deem the practice had met the warning notice. We did not review the Regulation 17 requirement notice and have not revised ratings for the practice. We will consider those issues when we carry out a further follow up inspection in due course.
How we carried out the inspection
Throughout the pandemic CQC has continued to regulate and respond to risk. However, we have taken account of the circumstances arising from 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:
- A site visit to review patients’ records with the lead GP and practice manager and to consider the actions taken by the provider;
- A remote review of relevant policies and protocols developed or revised by the provider since our last visit.
Our findings
We based our judgement of the quality of care at this service on a combination of:
- 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 found that:
- The practice had reviewed the care of the patients being prescribed high-risk medicines and those whose care involved medication referred to in two drug safety alerts. The practice had taken appropriate action in relation to the patients’ care.
- Revised relevant policies had been introduced.
We shall programme a further inspection in due course to check and confirm the changes made have been fully established.
Details of our findings and the evidence supporting our ratings are set out in the evidence table.
Dr Rosie Benneyworth BM BS BMedSci MRCGP
Chief Inspector of Primary Medical Services and Integrated Care