Letter from the Chief Inspector of General Practice
We carried out an announced comprehensive inspection of this practice on 10 May 2016. The overall rating for the practice was good with requires improvement for being well-led. The full comprehensive report for the inspection of 10 May 2016 can be found by selecting the ‘all reports’ link for White House Farm Medical Centre on our website at www.cqc.org.uk.
This inspection was an announced focused inspection carried out on 19 January 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 10 May 2016. This report covers our findings in relation to those requirements and also additional improvements made since our last inspection.
Overall the practice is now rated as Good for being well-led and remains requires improvement for those people experiencing poor mental health (including people living with dementia).
Our key findings across the areas we inspected were as follows:
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The partners had reviewed the governance framework to support the performance of the practice. There was a clear staffing structure and staff were aware of their own roles and responsibilities. Practice specific policies were implemented and were available to all staff on the desktop of computers and as paper files. At the time of our inspection two practice managers had been employed temporarily to support the practice as the practice manager post was vacant. They were currently in the process of recruiting a new practice manager.
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We were shown records of incidents reported since our last inspection. Incident forms were completed and included a review of relevant policies and procedures. Staff told us they were aware how to report incidents and also were briefed about learning points from them when it involved their role.
- The GPs had reviewed the clinical performance of the practice which was now discussed at clinical meetings. Overall outcomes were under review as part of the practice's clinical performance monitoring. Staff we spoke with were aware of the practice achievement for Quality Outcomes Framework (QOF) for 2015/16. We noted there had been improvement in some areas, for example:
- Asthma indicators had improved from 61% in QOF 2014/15 to 80% in QOF 2015/16.
- Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease outcomes had improved from 73% in QOF 2014/15 to 77% in QOF 2015/16.
- The practice had improved the recording of alcohol consumption for those with complex mental health illness from 44% in QOF 2014/15 to 80% in QOF 2015/16.
However, there had been a decline in other indicators . For example:
- Of those with complex mental health illness 78% had a comprehensive agreed care plan in their record in the last 12 months in QOF 2014/15 which had declined to 28% in QOF 2015/16.
There was an area of practice where the provider should make improvements:
- Review the care provided to those people experiencing poor mental health (including people living with dementia) to ensure annual reviews take place and are recorded.
Professor Steve Field CBE FRCP FFPH FRCGP
Chief Inspector of General Practice