Over 130 CQC Reports Published for GP Practices This Week

In the past week the CQC has issued over 130 reports on the quality of care provided by GP practices.

The overwhelming majority of those inspected received a Good rating (103 practices), eleven were rated as Requires Improvement, five as Outstanding and seven as Inadequate.

The total number of practices rated Outstanding is now 289. The total number of practices that have exited Special Measures is now 102.

To get to the heart of people’s experiences of care, inspectors always ask the following five questions of services.

1. Are they safe?
2. Are they effective?
3. Are they caring?
4. Are they responsive to people’s needs?
5. Are they well-led?

For every NHS GP practice the CQC looks at the quality of care for the following six population groups:

• Older people
• People with long-term conditions
• Families, children and young people
• Working age people (including those recently retired and students)
• People whose circumstances may make them vulnerable
• People experiencing poor mental health (including people with dementia).

Professor Steve Field, Chief Inspector of General Practice, said "After reporting on more than 6,000 inspections we have found that most care is good – with over 200 practices now rated Outstanding. That means that over 1 million patients in England currently receive care from practices which we have rated Outstanding. What’s enormously encouraging is that our inspections are driving improvement – 90% of practices that we have re-inspected have improved since last October. Through their hard work and dedication, practices are making positive changes to the care they deliver."

“However, we still see evidence of too much poor care. Since we began inspecting GP practices in October 2014 we have found over 200 practices to be Inadequate. While this is a minority, this still amounts to over half a million patients in England who were not receiving the basic standards of care that they should be able to expect from their GP practice. I am glad to say that we have increasingly found that most practices that are placed in special measures use the support that is on offer to meet those standards.”