We carried out an announced inspection at IH Medical over a period of five days, the final inspection date was the 24 November 2021 when we carried out an onsite inspection visit.
Set out the ratings for each key question
Safe - Good
Effective - Good
Caring - Good
Responsive - Good
Well-led - Good
This was the first inspection of this service following registration and change in the registered provider in September 2019.
Why we carried out this inspection
This inspection was a comprehensive review of information as part of our inspection programme.
How we carried out the inspection/review
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 reviews differently. 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 the findings with the provider
- Reviewing patient records to identify issues and clarify actions taken by the provider
- Requesting evidence from the provider
- Carrying out a 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:
- Some of the patient clinical records we reviewed showed a lack of oversight of the practice arrangements for monitoring the completeness of patient consultation records and high risk medicines.
- Staff had the skills, knowledge and experience to deliver effective care, support and treatment and worked together and with other organisations to deliver effective care and treatment.
- Staff dealt with patients with kindness and respect and involved them in decisions about their care.
- 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 adjusted how it delivered services to meet the needs of patients during the COVID-19 pandemic. Patients could access care and treatment in a timely way.
- The way the practice was led and managed promoted the delivery of high-quality, person-centre care.
- There was areas of good practice, one of the GPs had developed a template within the practice patient information system for monitoring patients prescribed a high risk medicine. This provided clinicians with an immediate update of a patient’s blood test result for this medicine, prior to issuing a repeat prescription.
Whilst we found no breaches of regulations, the provider should:
- Continue to review the fire risk assessment with relevant personnel to confirm whether work recommended had been carried out.
- Continue to improve the monitoring and review of patients prescribed high risk medicines.
- Continue to improve the monitoring and review of patient’s clinical records.
- Review the process for updating and linking the outcome of tasks and any follow up requested with the relevant consultation documented in patients clinical records.
- Proactively review and act on the uptake of cervical cancer screening at the practice to ensure timely action can be taken where appropriate.
- Proactively review and improve on the uptake of childhood immunisations.
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