Dr NR Pulman's Practice

We carried out an unannounced inspection at Dr NR Pulman’s Practice on 20 October 2021. During this inspection we only reviewed safe but did not rate it as we looked at a small aspect of the domain. Overall, the practice remains rated as good.

Safe - inspected but not rated

Effective – not inspected

Caring – not inspected

Responsive – not inspected

Well-led – not inspected

The full reports for previous inspections can be found by selecting the ‘all reports’ link for Dr NR Pulman’s practice on our website at www.cqc.org.uk

Why we carried out this inspection

This inspection was a focused on site inspection to follow up on concerns received by the CQC in relation to clinical supervision and oversight including around infection prevention and control.

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:

• 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 found that:

• Patient Specific Directions were recorded appropriately for when healthcare assistants delivered injectable treatments.
• There were systems in place for infection prevention and control however some areas were picked up during our inspection such as sharps bins not being discarded in a timely manner, untidy rooms and privacy curtains not being labelled with expiry dates. These were immediately rectified and the practice had added these to the monthly infection prevention and control checks.
• There was one vial of opened injectable stored in the fridge which did not have an opened date on, meaning it is not clear if the medicine was safe to use.

Whilst we found no breaches of regulations, the provider should:

• Improve systems for monitoring infection prevention and control risks.
• Undertake a review of the cold chain to ensure medicines are monitored in line with your policy including monitoring of fridge temperatures.

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