Letter from the Chief Inspector of General Practice

We carried out an announced comprehensive inspection of this practice on17 July 2016. A breach of legal requirements was found. After the comprehensive inspection the practice wrote to us to say what they would do to meet the following legal requirements set out in the Health and Social Care Act (HSCA) 2008:

• Regulation 12 HSCA 2008 (Regulated Activities) Regulations 2010 Safe care and treatment.

Care and treatment was not provided in a safe way for service users because some aspects of the management of medicines were unsafe.

Specifically:

Prescriptions must be checked and signed by GPs before medicines are dispensed and issued to patients

The arrangements for storing and recording controlled drugs must be reviewed and strengthened to comply with schedule 2 of the Misuse of Drugs (Safe Custody) Regulations 1973

We undertook this focused inspection on 26 October 2016 to check that they had followed their plan and to confirm that they now met legal requirements. This report only covers our findings in relation to those requirements.

You can read the report from our last comprehensive inspection, by selecting the 'all reports' link for Park Lane Surgery on our website at www.cqc.org.uk

Our key findings were as follows:

• Care and treatment was provided in a safe way for service users through the proper and safe management of medicines for the purposes of the regulated activity.

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 Dr Little, Dr Lingutla & Dr Corbett (also known as Park Lane Surgery) on 19 July 2016. Overall the practice is rated as good. However we found that the service was requires 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 report incidents and near misses. All opportunities for learning from internal and external incidents were maximised. However near misses were not formally recorded by the practice.

• There was an open and transparent approach to safety and an effective system in place for reporting and recording significant events. The practice promoted a no blame culture and encouraged staff to raise concerns and possible risks.

• Patients were at potential risk of harm because some of the systems and processes in place were ineffective. We found concerns in relation to the management of medicines dispensed.Staff assessed patients’ needs and delivered care in line with current evidence based guidance. Staff had been trained to provide them with the skills, knowledge and experience to deliver effective care and treatment.

• 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. Improvements were made to the quality of care as a result of complaints and concerns.

• Patients said they found it easy to make an appointment with a named GP and there was continuity of care, with urgent appointments available the same day.

• Feedback from patients about their care was consistently positive.

• 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. The provider was aware of and complied with the requirements of the duty of candour. (The duty of candour is a set of specific legal requirements that providers of services must follow when things go wrong with care and treatment).

The practice should:

• Review their assessment of the need for oxygen to be available, to enable the practice to deal with certain medical emergencies (such as acute exacerbation of asthma and other causes of hypoxemia).

The practice must :

Ensure care and treatment is provided in a safe way for patients through the proper and safe management of medicines. Prescriptions must be checked and signed by GPs before medicines are dispensed and issued to patients. The arrangements for storing and recording controlled drugs must be reviewed and strengthened to comply with schedule 2 of the Misuse of Drugs (Safe Custody) Regulations 1973.

Professor Steve Field (CBE FRCP FFPH FRCGP) 

Chief Inspector of General Practice