Leadership within a practice is one of the five mission critical areas the CQC asks about during its inspections. Falling fairly and squarely on the shoulders of GPs and practice managers, leadership can cover everything from staff mentoring to working closely with patient participation groups. It’s such a broad subject that it’s really hard to…

The Care Quality Commission has recently published a further tranche of reports on the quality of care provided by GP practices that have been inspected under its new approach. Following recent inspections by specialist teams, one has been rated Outstanding, 38 practices have been rated as Good, nine have been rated as Requires Improvement and,…

When you receive communication telling you that your practice is in line for a CQC inspection, it’s understandable that your heart might sink and panic set in. After all, how will you find the time to replace those fabric curtains in your surgery with paper ones? And what will you replace your carpets with given…

The Care Quality Commission has published another batch of reports on the quality of care provided by GP practices that have been inspected under its new approach. Always interesting reading, the reports provide practice managers with plenty of insight regarding what’s working well at practices – and what’s not so good of course! Practice Index…

When the CQC calls to tell you that you’re up for inspection, it triggers one of the most nerve-racking experiences practice managers will ever go through. In this blog Practice Index has spoken to practice managers who have endured the pain – and survived – the pressures of being inspected, to provide an insight into…

With GP practices now rated as Outstanding, Good, Requires Improvement or Inadequate following CQC inspections – and having to publicly display their rating from April – the pressure on achieving top marks is arguably greater than ever. So what is the CQC looking for during inspections and how can practices ensure they score highly? The…

The CQC revealed on Thursday (8th January) that of around 50 practices inspected under the new inspection process launched in October 2014, seven currently ‘require improvement.’ One was deemed ‘outstanding’ by the regulator, and the rest were rated ‘good.’ The number of surgeries requiring improvement therefore totals around 14% or one in seven, compared to…