8 December 2021
During an inspection looking at part of the service
We carried out an announced inspection at Ifield Medical Practice on 29 November 2021, 30 November 2021 and 7 December 2021. We carried out a visit to the premises on 8 December 2021. Overall, the practice is rated as Good.
Safe – Requires improvement
Effective - Good
The full reports for previous inspections can be found by selecting the ‘all reports’ link for Ifield Medical Practice on our website at www.cqc.org.uk
Why we carried out this inspection.
This inspection was a focused inspection in response to concerns. The ratings for providing caring and responsive services and the overall rating of Good were carried over from the previous inspection in December 2018.
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:
- 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 shorter 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 have rated this practice as Good overall.
We found that:
- In most instances the practice provided care in a way that kept patients safe and protected them from avoidable harm. However, some areas of practice, for example; responding to emergency situations required further action.
- 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 recruitment systems kept people safe. However, records of staff immunisations had not been maintained for non-clinical staff.
- The practice had safeguarding systems in place to protect patients from harm.
- The security of prescriptions and smartcards were not always maintained.
We found one breach of regulations. The provider must:
- Ensure that care and treatment is provided in a safe way.
The provider should:
- Continue to keep under review and complete the recall programme for patients requiring blood pressure checks and ensure patients are appropriately coded on the practice systems to reflect their documented care and treatment.
- Keep the staff supervision and appraisal system under review to ensure appropriate and timely support is provided.
- Continue to monitor the provision and promotion of cervical screening services.
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