Letter from the Chief Inspector of General Practice
We carried out an announced comprehensive inspection at Dr Cureton and Partners on 9 September 2016. The overall rating for the practice was good. However, during this inspection we found breaches of legal requirements and the provider was rated as requires improvement under the safe domain. The full comprehensive report for the September 2016 inspection can be found by selecting the ‘all reports’ link for Dr Cureton and Partners on our website at www.cqc.org.uk.
Following this inspection the practice sent to us an action plan detailing what they would do to meet the legal requirements in relation to the following:-
- Ensuring that controlled drugs used within the practice were stored securely in line with national guidance.
- Ensuring that all significant events within the practice were reported and recorded and that all staff were involved in discussions and reviews to improve practice.
This inspection was an announced focused inspection carried out on 16 March 2017. This was 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 9 September 2016. This focused inspection has determined that the provider is now meeting all requirements and is now rated as good under the safe domain. This report covers our findings in relation to those requirements and also additional improvements made since our last inspection.
Our key findings were as follows:
- The practice had reviewed security measures in place for controlled drugs. We saw evidence that only authorised staff had access to controlled drugs and that keys to the controlled drugs safe within the dispensary were stored securely in a separate key safe.
- The practice had ensured that all staff were included in the review of and learning from significant events where relevant to their role. Significant events were recorded centrally with detailed information being available for all staff to review including full details of the incident, areas of concern, suggestions for doing things differently in the future and action points.
In addition we saw evidence of:
- New meeting structures in place for clinical and non clinical staff. Staff we spoke with told us the new meeting structure supported good communication and allowed them the opportunity to be involved in formal discussions about the practice.
- Controlled drugs being monitored in line with best practice guidance. This included dispensing staff regularly recording stock movement and the balance of drugs stored, a monthly stock check and a six monthly audit. We also saw that standard operating procedures had been updated.
Professor Steve Field (CBE FRCP FFPH FRCGP)
Chief Inspector of General Practice