Care Quality Commission Inspections: Are your policies up to scratch?
The Care Quality Commission (CQC) now inspects all GP practices in England to ensure that national standards of quality and safety are being met locally. Such inspections are to take place at least every two years and, whilst 48 hours notice will normally be given of an inspection, the CQC has the power to turn up and inspect any surgery unannounced if deemed necessary.
Among the factors which the CQC will be assessing will be confidentiality, information given to patients, telephone and ‘bedside’ manner, the availability of chaperones and health and safety.
Notably, a large proportion of such factors are judged by patients on a daily basis and so a diligent practice might obtain regular feedback from its patients. It is important to remember the overriding purpose of the CQC’s role and, rather than focus on ‘quick fixes’ and box ticking, face any problem areas head on with the focus on learning and improvement.
It has been reported The CQC will be looking to social media sites including Twitter and Facebook to gain perspective on the views of users of NHS services. It remains to be seen how much weight will be put on such comments; Twitter, for example, only allows 140 characters per tweet so it is difficult to see how a constructive comment may be made. All the more reason for practices to outweigh such feedback with their own better structured methods of obtaining patient views.
GP practices have a lot to consider in light of the new inspection scheme but overall it is key to ensure that all staff, from partner level down, are aware of and understand the role of the CQC and how their own activities can affect the level of care given to patients (and therefore the outcome of the inspection). The partnership agreement should be updated to include an obligation on all partners to observe and comply with the standards, and it might also be an opportune moment to review the staff handbook to specifically refer to the CQC’s standards. The presence of a handbook can provide a useful point of reference and clarification of responsibilities. The handbook should set out how each member of staff must act to meet the standards required by the CQC in addition to the other usual employment policies. It is important that policies and procedures are readily available and are relevant and are kept up to date. Equally as important is that each member of staff understands and complies with their provisions.
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Corporate Law
RBuono@LawBlacks.com
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Richard Buono
