Didn't have a chance to link to a balanced article. There's been a lot of GP and NHS bashing over the last few weeks.
CQC was set up to highlight failing surgeries. It costs time, money and resources to address shortcomings but instead of helping practices along, they seem to just hit everyone with a stick. I'd have thought it'd have been better to help such surgeries come up to scratch.
Things I have issues with:
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| Quote: emergency drugs being out of date | |
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IIRC a coroner recently told off junior docs in hospital for not using out of date drugs on a very unwell patient (who subsequently died). Keeping things up to date and in check means you end up wasting a lot of money, to the point where no doctor in our surgery carries emergency drugs on their person when making house calls. Instead, we ring before going if we suspect we need to take something along.
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| Quote: vaccines not kept in properly regulated fridges | |
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We had an incident when we found that one of our fridges went to 9*C. Someone at the CQC (a nurse) started bleating like a goat, about how we'd have to get rid of our vaccines etc. We rang the manufacturers and pretty much all of them said the vaccines were good to 15*C or so. Some stated that their vaccines are designed to be used in the tropics.
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| Quote: practices were not always doing the necessary employment checks | |
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They wanted us to submit a CRB check for every personnel. Given that we have had staff for over ten years, it wasn't necessary. The only people who really needed one would be anyone in direct patient contact eg doctors, nurses etc.
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| Quote: access to routine appointments was also a "constant theme", with some patients reporting they were unable to get one for weeks. | |
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Perennial problem down to not enough GPs, too many people living longer, people having multiple comorbidities, and people who don't know how to self-manage things such as colds. IIRC a study showed that if every person wanted to see their GP when they wanted, the GP would have to work 21 hour days. Access has to limited/controlled in some way.
Unlike hospitals, GP surgeries are buildings normally managed by the GPs. I know of surgeries that cannot afford to continue going so they've shut down and closed. In others, the partners are paying into the practice rather than drawing any money. A lot of practices are still in old buildings or even in doctors' homes.
We've had our CQC inspection and I will happily say that the majority was bollocks. Infection control as an example: all notices must be laminated, no carpet in clinical areas, no furry toys allowed, all chairs much be wiped clean, magazines can't be more than three months old. It just goes on. Very little makes any sense or any difference. We've heard of thousands of children who die each year from playing with a cuddly toy. God forbid their immune system gets exposed to anything whatsover.