Letter from the Chief Inspector of General Practice

We carried out an announced comprehensive inspection of the practice on 4 March 2015. Breaches of legal requirements were found. After the comprehensive inspection, the practice wrote to us to say what they would do to meet the legal requirements in relation to the breaches of regulation 9(3)(b)(h), regulation 12(2)(f)(g) and regulation 15 of the Health and Social Care Act 2008 (Regulated Activities) Regulations 2014.

We undertook this focussed inspection on 16 December 2015 to check that they had followed their plan and to confirm that they now met the legal requirements. This report covers our findings in relation to those requirements and also where additional improvements have been made following the initial inspection. You can read the report from our last comprehensive inspection by selecting the ‘all reports’ link for Battersea Rise Group Practice on our website at www.cqc.org.uk.

Overall the practice is rated as Good. Specifically, following the focussed inspection we found the practice to be good for providing safe services. As the practice was now found to be providing good services for safety, this affected the ratings for the population groups we inspect against. Therefore, it was also good for providing services for older people; people with long-term conditions; families, children and young people; working age people (including those recently retired and students); people whose circumstances make them vulnerable and people experiencing poor mental health (including people with dementia).

Our key findings across all the areas we inspected were as follows:

• Risks to patients were assessed and well-managed, including those related to medicines management, health and safety and responding to emergencies.

Professor Steve Field CBE FRCP FFPH FRCGP

Chief Inspector of General Practice

Letter from the Chief Inspector of General Practice

We carried out an announced comprehensive inspection at the Battersea Rise Group Practice on 04 March 2015. Overall the practice is rated as good. Specifically, we found the practice to be good for providing well-led, effective, caring and responsive services. It was also good for providing services for the six population groups we report on.

It required improvement for providing safe services.

Our key findings across all the areas we inspected were as follows:

• Staff understood and fulfilled their responsibilities to raise concerns, and to report incidents and near misses. Information about safety was recorded, monitored, appropriately reviewed and addressed.
• Patients said they were treated with compassion, dignity and respect and they were involved in their care and decisions about their treatment.
• Information about services and how to complain was available and easy to understand.
• Patients said they found it easy to make an appointment with a GP and that there was continuity of care, with urgent appointments available the same day.
• The practice had good facilities and was well equipped to treat patients and meet their needs.
• There was a clear leadership structure and staff felt supported by management. The practice proactively sought feedback from staff and patients, which it acted on.

However there were areas of practice where the provider needs to make improvements.

Importantly the provider must:

• Improve the storage arrangements for vaccines and other medicines so that they are secure and correctly monitored in line with national guidance.
• Improve the fire safety arrangements including the provision of staff training and the use of alarm tests and drills.
• Put in place the correct and up-to-date legal authorisations required for staff to carry out their roles safely.

In addition the provider should:

• Carry out a risk assessment in relation to legionella.
• Set out a schedule for testing, or a protocol for maintaining, the safety of portable electrical appliances.
• Review staff compliance with the storage protocols for some higher risk documents including prescription pads.
• Review and update the business continuity plan and share these updates with staff to ensure that there is a current protocol in place for dealing with emergencies.
• Improve the recording of staff meeting minutes and share these with all staff, including locum GPs, to improve communication and the sharing of best practice decisions with all staff.
• Provide patients with care plans in place with a copy of these plans for reference purposes.

Professor Steve Field (CBE FRCP FFPH FRCGP) 

Chief Inspector of General Practice