CQC Feedback
Dear Colleagues,
Our inspection was today and to say I was ready for the worst, was putting it mildly. However, our Inspector was a really pleasant chap who spent time at the start explaining what he was going to check and how we work towards the outcomes.
An interesting point is that because we are quite small the outcomes covered would only be 1,4, 7 and 8 (already warned by other PMs) but, he told me larger practices will also be checked on any of the remaining 16 outcomes – so please note if you are a large practice!
Our inspector stayed until Lunchtime and I am happy to report all was well. He spent time chatting mainly to me, then I had made allowances with the appointment books for him to have an opportunity to speak to the dentists and nurses. This did reduce the stress level as it wasn’t a rush between patients or running late.
Outcome 7 is a difficult one, we have child safety training and patient safety policy, but he was also looking for adult safety training and recognising abuse in adults! He told me no practice he visited yet had this correct. So, there is a warning for everyone. However, I must ask if any practice has been visited and they had the correct policy and procedures set-up, would you be prepared to send me a template proforma? Or, guide me where I can obtain one?
I wish everyone who hasn’t had their visit yet, good luck.
Jan 2012
Dear Colleagues
We have had our CQC visit, which was unannounced, the inspector just turned up on a Monday morning, and just to help matters, I was away at the time.
So my advice to all and sundry would be don’t put off getting ready. Fortunately I had debriefed most of my staff before hand, so the inspection went quite smoothly. A small issue with staff contracts (which of course were locked away) I was able to resolve on my return.
The only problem which was mentioned on our report was the concerning outcome 7 and lack of safeguarding training regarding vulnerable adults. Even though we have a Vulnerable Adult policy our inspector wanted to ensure that all our staff have or are having programmed suitable training.
This is a warning to everybody to be prepared.
Jan 2012
Dear Colleagues
Following on from previous e-mails, we recently had our first CQC inspection which went very well and fortunately brought us a clean bill of health with no recommendations for improvements.
Here is some feedback and suggestions which may help others prepare.
Our visit lasted around 4 hours and we were told of the main findings at the end of the inspection with a draft report coming through after about 10 days. You are giving a short period of time to check the content before it is published to the CQC website where it can be seen by the general public. I understand that other organisations such as the NHS/PCT are likely to provide a link on their own website to the published report for each practice.
Practices are usually given 48 hours notice of a visit and you will be told which outcomes are to be checked. I was advised that this may change as other providers such as care homes and hospitals are given no notice.
We were checked on outcomes 1 (respecting and Involving Patients), 4 (Care & Welfare of People who use Services), 7 (Safeguarding Patients from Abuse) and 8 (Cleanliness & Infection Control).
Current high priorities are Infection Control and Safeguarding (adults and children) both of which will almost certainly be checked.
Very interested in Medical Emergency procedures/training and more importantly staff awareness of what to do.
Whistleblowing awareness also important – particularly using the CQC as a contact point – circulate this document to staff for bonus points http://tinyurl.com/7ovpehu.
Very keen to talk to staff and patients and what they say has significant input to the final report.
On the day of inspection identify some good patients to speak with the inspector – three or four should be enough – what they say will carry a lot of weight.
Best practice is to keep a folder with separate sections for each of the 16 outcomes and store evidence and examples for each – the inspector went through this and it made a real difference.
Keep another folder containing copies of all your policies and procedures – use this as part of your induction training – again this speeds things up as the inspector is able to sit down and go through them one by one.
Speaking of induction training, the inspector likes to see induction records for a recent recruit – try to make sure something is available.
The inspector will also want to see your training logs and understand how you make sure staff who miss training are picked up.
Regular staff meetings with minuted discussions of significant incidents and lessons learned from complaints are also important.
Make sure there is a system in place to monitor and circulate Safety Alert Broadcasts/mhra alerts.
Not surprisingly, make sure you can show audit trails and service agreements/records for each of your autoclaves/washer disinfectors.
You will need to show how you listen to and respond to patient feedback – surveys, questionnaires, thank-you letters, comment boxes. Find a few good examples to show.
Complaints procedures and examples of how a complaint has been handled will be needed – have a good example to hand and make sure reception staff are familiar with the complaints procedure.
Feb 2012
