CQC finds serious flaws in GP practices
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- Published: Friday, 13 December 2013 09:27
- Written by News Editor
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The Care Quality Commission (CQC) has found that one third of over 900 GP practices they inspected had problems with some essential standards. Ten practices were found to have major problems and in at least two cases the GPs in charge are no longer running the practice. Two GP partners referred each other to the GMC. Neither is still working in the practice.
Professor Steve Field, himself a GP and the chief inspector of general practice, told Health Service Journal that the role of the CQC was to “write factual reports” about what it finds and said it was the responsibility of clinical commissioning groups working with their local NHS England area team and the practice to look at how to address any problems found. However, he said he hoped inspection would “trigger better working relationships” between organisations about improving care. He added “many of the inspectors have been absolutely fantastic”, but feedback from GPs found they were given too short notice before initial inspections took place, disrupting work with patients. GPs also found the way reports were written made them difficult to understand.
Maureen Baker, chair of the Royal College of GPs, said it was “crucial that any inspection of GP practice should have input from people who have direct experience of frontline general practice”. She added: “We must make sure that GPs, practice nurses and practice managers are not taken away from the day job of providing care to patients as a result of their involvement in inspections.”
The CQC intends to inspect and rate every GP practice by April 2016.
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