Buntingford Medical Centre

We carried out an announced inspection at Buntingford Medical Centre on 21 July 2022. Overall, the practice is rated as requires improvement.

The key questions are rated as:

Safe – Requires improvement

Effective -Requires improvement

Well-led – Requires improvement

The full reports for previous inspections can be found by selecting the ‘all reports’ link for Buntingford Medical Centre on our website at www.cqc.org.uk

Why we carried out this inspection

This inspection was a focused Inspection. We undertook this inspection as part of a random selection of services rated Good and Outstanding to test the reliability of our new monitoring approach.

How we carried out the inspection

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 short site 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 have rated this practice as requires improvement overall

We found that:

• Systems, practice and processes to keep people safe and safeguarded from abuse required strengthening.
• The practice was unable to demonstrate that adequate employment checks were always undertaken in line with practice policies.
• The arrangements for managing medicines did not always keep people safe.
• The practice system for managing and acting on Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) safety alerts was not always effective.
• Patient treatment was not always regularly reviewed and updated.
• There were inconsistencies in the monitoring and management of long-term conditions.
• The system to ensure staff had the skills, knowledge and experience to deliver effective care, support and treatment was not effective.
• 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.

We found breaches of regulations. The provider must:

• Ensure that care and treatment is provided in a safe way.
• Establish effective systems and processes to ensure good governance in accordance with the fundamental standards of care.

(Please see the specific details on action required at the end of this report)

In addition, the practice should:

• Continue to offer access to appropriate health assessments and checks to identified patients.
• Further develop a programme of targeted quality improvement.
• Embed and ensure staff understand the vision, values and strategy.
• Develop staff access to the Freedom to Speak Up Guardian for the practice.

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