15 and 24 June 2022
During an inspection looking at part of the service
We carried out an announced inspection at The Priory Medical Centre on 15 and 24 June 2022. Overall, the practice is rated as Good.
Safe - Requires improvement
Effective - Good
Well-led - Good
Following our previous inspection on 8 July 2016, the practice was rated Good overall and for all key questions.
The full reports for previous inspections can be found by selecting the ‘all reports’ link for The Priory Medical Centre on our website at www.cqc.org.uk
Why we carried out this inspection
We undertook this inspection as part of a random selection of services rated Good and Outstanding to test the reliability of our new monitoring approach.
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.
- 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
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:
- The practice had made adjustments associated with the COVID-19 pandemic to ensure that patients were kept safe and protected from avoidable harm.
- Staff told us they felt supported by the management team and if they raised concerns these would be listened to and acted upon.
- The practice had an open and supportive culture, where there was a focus on improvement.
However:
- We found some patients prescribed high risk medication had not had the appropriate monitoring.
- Historical safety alerts were not always considered when prescribing medicines.
- We found safeguarding training had not been completed by all staff in line with the latest intercollegiate guidance.
- We found gaps in the recruitment and induction documentation.
- Incidents were not always reported and recorded in one system. Records of clinical audits had not been kept.
We found one breach of regulation. The provider must:
- Ensure care and treatment is provided in a safe way to patients.
The provider should:
- Review the infection prevention audit template to reference COVID-19 measures and guidance.
- Continue to monitor and improve cervical screening uptake.
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