Strand Medical

We carried out an announced inspection at Strand Medical on 9th and 11th May 2022. Overall, the practice is rated as good.

Safe - Good

Effective - Good

Caring - Good

Responsive - Good

Well-led - Good

Why we carried out this inspection.

We inspected the practice because it was newly registered due to a change in location. This inspection was comprehensive and covered the safe, effective, caring, responsive and well-led key questions.

How we carried out the inspection

Throughout the pandemic CQC has continued to regulate and respond to risk. However, considering 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 the consent from the provider and in line with all data protection and information governance requirements.

This included:

• Conducting staff interviews using video conferencing
• Completing clinical searches on the practice’s patient records system and discussing findings with the provider
• Reviewing patient records to identify issues and clarify actions taken by the provider
• Requesting evidence from the provider
• A short site visit
• A staff questionnaire

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 have rated this practice as good overall

We found that:

• The practice provided care in a way that kept patients safe and protected them from avoidable harm.
• Patients received effective care and treatment that met their needs.
• Staff dealt with patients with kindness and respect and involved them in decisions about their care.
• The practice had an active patient participation group and patient views were acted on to improve services and culture.
• The practice was responsive to the needs of individual patients and had developed ‘care passports’, an ‘autism friendly’ booklet and videos to assist patients with their experience of the surgery.
• Patients could access care and treatment in a timely way.
• Staff felt supported by their managers and that their well-being was prioritised.
• Staff had the training and skills required for their role.

Whilst we found no breaches of regulations, we identified the following areas where the practice should make improvements:-

• Ensure that significant events, complaints and infection control action audits are followed up and recorded to ensure actions have been completed.
• Ensure that regular assessments of health and safety are undertaken and recorded.
• Ensure that records demonstrating the vaccination status of all staff are complete.
• In line with prescribing guidelines, ensure that patients have had all the necessary health monitoring in relation to the repeat prescribing of high-risk medicines.
• Improve the uptake for cervical screening to ensure at least 80% coverage in line with the national target.
• Ensure policies and procedures for distribution and monitoring of pre-printed blank prescription stationery are embedded.

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