25 April 2017
During an inspection looking at part of the service
Letter from the Chief Inspector of General Practice
We carried out an announced comprehensive inspection at Blakenall family Practice on 4 July 2016. The overall rating for the practice was requires improvement. The full comprehensive report on the July 2016 inspection can be found by selecting the ‘all reports’ link for Blakenall Family Practice on our website at www.cqc.org.uk.
This inspection was an announced focused inspection carried out on 25 April 2017 to confirm that the practice had carried out their plan to meet the required improvements in relation to the breaches in regulations that we identified in our previous inspection on 4 July 2016. This report covers our findings in relation to those requirements and also additional improvements made since our last inspection.
Overall the practice is now rated as good; however continues to be rated as requires improvement for providing responsive services.
Our key findings were as follows:
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At our July 2016 inspection, some medicines required to respond to medical emergencies were not stored within the practice and the provider had not assessed the risk posed by the absence of these. During this inspection we found that the arrangements to respond to medical emergencies had been strengthened.
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Results from the national GP patient survey published in July 2016 showed that patient satisfaction had slightly improved in some areas and declined in others since the July 2016 inspection. The practice was aware of this and taking action to improve patient satisfaction.
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Previously we saw the practice complaints process was not being followed effectively. As part of this inspection, we saw that oversight of the complaints process was more effective. As a result, the practice responded to complaints in a timely manner and improvements were made to the quality of care as a result of complaints and concerns.
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Arrangements for monitoring and improving quality and managing risk had improved since our previous inspection. For example, the practice established a programme of continuous clinical audits and oversight of risk was managed effectively.
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Data from the 2015/16 quality outcomes framework showed uptake of childhood immunisations was below local and national averages for vaccinations given to under two’s and five year olds. Staff we spoke with during this inspection explained that they actively contacted patients who failed to attend appointments.
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The practice no longer had set immunisation clinics and made clinic times more flexible for patients. Staff explained that the practice was also involved in a pilot with child health aimed at gathering central data of completed immunisations. As a result, 2016/17 QOF data showed immunisation uptake for under two’s and five year olds was above local and national averages.
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As part of the previous inspection data from the March 2015 national cancer intelligence network showed that uptake for breast and bowel screening was below local and national averages. When we carried out this inspection, we saw that uptake remained below local and national averages; however the practice were aware of this and continued to take actions to improve uptake. This included actively contacting patients to encourage uptake and arranging for testing kits to be sent out directly to patients.
In addition the provider should:
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Continue to review national GP patient survey results and internal patient feedback; and explore effective ways to improve patient satisfaction.
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Continue to consider effective ways of encouraging the uptake of national screening programmes such as bowel and breast cancer.
Professor Steve Field (CBE FRCP FFPH FRCGP)
Chief Inspector of General Practice