Letter from the Chief Inspector of General Practice
We carried out an announced comprehensive inspection at Hadlow Medical Centre on 26 May 2016. The overall rating for the practice was requires improvement. The practice was rated as requires improvement for providing safe, effective and well-led services and rated as good for providing caring and responsive services. The full comprehensive report on the June 2016 inspection can be found by selecting the ‘all reports’ link for Hadlow Medical Centre on our website at www.cqc.org.uk.
This inspection was an announced focused visit carried out on 20 April 2017 to confirm that the practice had carried out their plan to meet the legal requirements in relation to the breaches in regulations that we identified in our previous inspection on 26 May 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.
Our key findings were as follows:
- The practice had systems and processes to assess and manage the risks of infection, including infection control audit and training, and the control of legionella.
- The practice had effective systems and processes to ensure the safe management of medicines.
- The practice had a programme of clinical audit and ensured that results of audits led to improvements for patients.
- There was an induction programme for newly appointed staff and staff had received mandatory training, including safeguarding, appropriate to their roles.
- There was an overarching governance framework which included regular audits, to monitor and improve quality and identify risk.
- There was a clear leadership structure and staff felt supported by management. However, there was no formal, documented business plan for the practice. The practice had identified a registered manager and were in the process of making applications through the CQC registration process.
However, there were areas of practice where the provider still needs to make improvements.
The provider should:
- Continue with their plans for refurbishment of the practice including upgrading the clinical hand wash basins to comply with Department of Health guidelines.
- Consider developing a formal documented business plan for the practice.
- Complete the CQC process to register a manager for the practice.
Professor Steve Field (CBE FRCP FFPH FRCGP)
Chief Inspector of General Practice