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Another CQC rant – Nicola Hayward

Another CQC rant – Nicola HaywardBy Nicola Hayward

To say I am a tad vexed is an understatement! You may remember a little while ago I bleated on about CQC and the whole pointless exercise that includes printing off half the rainforest so that an inspector can read through what we’re doing (because we’re not trustworthy enough to do the job properly and they can’t possibly accept electronic protocols and policies) and blah blah blah, here I go again… I know, I sound like a nagging old woman!

I recognise that there are some (small) good points that come out of a CQC inspection and yes, there are practices out there who need help and support – what they don’t need is the heavy handed clipboard t***pots putting the fear of God in them when they are, for the most part, doing their absolute best with the rubbish resources they have available.

So, yesterday I get a phone call from the Chief Inspector who travelled from ‘up county’ with three colleagues earlier in the year to inspect my Practice.  We had one action to take – that which required the tracking of blank prescription paper throughout our building and out to our two branch sites (no mention of the robust tracking and storage system we have for our handwritten scrips of course!).  Now, the practicalities of doing this are not without hassle, but they said “jump” and I have obviously said “how high?” (with bells on)… they’re only flippin’ well coming back to check that we’ve done it!  I don’t have a problem with that necessarily, but what irks me somewhat is the waste of tax payers money to pay for two inspectors (not four thank Goodness) to come all this way to almost the end of the country to check that one protocol and one system has been put in place.  Is it not sufficient that I have said I am doing it? Given that it was only ONE action and not several to check up on or even, why not ask for copies of my protocol, an outline of the system I have created, and scanned copies of the entries that we have been making to track the paper?!  If I had several actions to take, if there were several areas of concern, I could totally understand it and I’d be keeping my big fat mouth shut.

Anyhoo they’ll apparently only be here for an hour or so but it’s a long way to come for an hour, and anyone who has ever travelled to Cornwall will know that – but hey ho, I’m not paying their expenses, nor will I be sat in the traffic jam with them that is the A30/A38/A390 because they’re coming in the middle of the school holidays!

And while I’m ranting, because it’s been a few days (and I’ve still got spare on my word count…) I am aware that some practices are fortunate enough to have Prescribing Support supplied by their Medicines Management Team to help practices save money on their prescribing.  This is a great idea, because they have the time to sit down and do the searches, check out the brand/generic potential switches, check out the most cost effectives etc, and suggest to GPs some ways to possibly save some cash on their prescribing budget.

What I get annoyed about though is the people who are employed to find the savings are paid more than they savings they are potentially making – and those savings will only be made IF the GP agrees it is clinically appropriate to do so.

I am sure Mr and Mrs Joe Public would happily change medications (and even perhaps buy OTC meds rather than having them prescribed)  if it meant the difference between having a workable NHS or not, because no matter what Mr H. says, we’re up the proverbial creek, the you-know-what has already hit the fan, and that big stallion has already left his stable.

I wrote an open letter to Prof Field a while ago about the CQC debacle and the proposed increase in fees – they didn’t quite jump to the rise of 567% as predicted, but they have gone up over 200% and they will rise again of course – but I felt at least I did something (and it made me feel better).  So, I’m going to drop Theresa a line… she might listen, she might not… I might strike a cord, she might think I’m a raving lunatic. Don’t all nod in agreement!

Nicola Hayward

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Nicola Davies

Practice Manager regularly ranting about the NHS. 35 years in Primary Care and still getting irritated by constant change for change sake! West Country Women Awards Nominee 2022 https://westcountrywomenawards.co.uk/

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8 Responses to “Another CQC rant – Nicola Hayward”
  1. Harry Curzon Says:

    Nicola, I think this image neatly sums up CQC
    http://www.kappit.com/img/pics/38608869iegfh_sm.jpg

    You mentioned that you are not paying their expenses, but of course you know that you are, why else do they need all those fees from us!

    Reply

  2. Charmagne Says:

    HI am with you on both counts Nicola and I think you would boil over at the next thing I am about to say.

    Each year our CCG does a practice visit. It is usually a fairly casual affair with one of the locality lead GPs and a CCG manager. They go through things in much the same way the olc PPV visits were conducted and the GP met with some of the GPs in the practice for a chat about how things were, what difficulties we were experiencing, what could the CCG do (if anything) to help.

    However, this year they appear to have changed tact.

    Having already gone through the debarcle of a CQC visit in January this year, our local CCG has now decided that they too will be conducting a CQC visit to each practice in their patch. They want to spend half a day with the CQC reg manager, PM, safeguarding lead and the lead nurse. The agenda they have sent to the practices is exactly what we went through on our ‘proper’ CQC visit and they want to go over ALL the same stuff again!

    I have just a few questions
    1. What do they hope to gain from this that has not already been addressed by the CQC visit?
    2. WHY?
    3. WHY?
    4. WHY?

    Reply

  3. Dianne Says:

    Perhaps they’re taking the opportunity for a couple of days break in beautiful Cornwall – all expenses paid?

    Reply

  4. jill Says:

    I think you have put in writing what everyone else is thinking, Well done you ! I am in the process of destroying a rainforest at the moment, along with everything else within the practice.
    Well done for your ‘rant’ if we all write to Theresa, maybe, just maybe Mr H could get lost or maybe go destroy another part of the government and leave the NHS alone !

    Reply

  5. Gerry Barclay Says:

    The problem is though Nicola – we are paying for this type of rubbish with the increased CQC charges!

    There still seems to be a wide gap between those ‘practical’ inspectors and the by the book nazis (can I say that??) who insist we should print our weight in paper whilst depleting the rainforest in this supposed increasingly “paperess” environment.

    Power to the people Sister! Have a fine weekend 🙂

    Reply

  6. Nicola Hayward Says:

    Hi all…..thanks for the comments – I’m very happy to rant on our behalf…..

    Harry – thanks for the poster – made me giggle!
    Charmagne – I am totally NOT surprised – just an excuse to print more paper, waste more time etc to make them feel justified in their own little jobs (people who THINK they are very important usually have no importance at all…but as long as they think it, it doesn’t matter!!)
    Dianne – that thought had crossed my mind…….there was a news report out a few months ago that 18 inspectors had gone to Dorset to review the hospital there and their expenses bill came to £180k…..and they weren’t staying in a Travel-lodge!!
    Jill – if Theresa responds, I’ll let you know, but I’m not holding my breath!! Mr H never replied to my tweets!!
    Gerry – maybe you could plant some more trees up in FoD to make up for the ones we’re destroying here??!! (and PS…I’m not sure if you are P.C……but who cares?!!)

    Have a great weekend everyone – it’s being this mad that keeps me going!!
    Best wishes
    Nicola

    Reply

  7. Angus Christie Says:

    The rest of the world have international terrorists whereas
    we in GP land have the CQC!!!!!!

    Reply

  8. Christine Says:

    I think I can beat you on that Nicola – My experience
    We were visited in February, and like you – I destroyed another rain forest printing out all training logs; DBS check logs; risk assessments; safeguarding children / adults certs; MCA/DOLS training logs to mention but a few for all doctors and staff, which was considerable for a large 17000 patient, 12 doctor, nursing team of six site. We spent hours preparing a presentation and ensuring the correct staff were available to be interviewed by the visiting CQC tea.
    All seemed to go well during the day albeit incredibly disruptive. At the end of the day the feed back was that we had an excellent practice !! We were informed that we would receive our report within two weeks – six weeks later no report materialised ! so chased inspector who assured us we had nothing to be concerned about and that report was with quality assurance team – so we waited and waited after another month contacted CQC to be told that the inspector had “left” and that report had been pulled and was now being prepared based on notes of visit by someone who had not attended on the day. Only to find that notes take on the day were scanty. Not best pleased was I – We then got report stating we were unsafe – why because no note was taken of the training/ Safeguarding procedures – in the end had to involve LMC – we then had to scan on and send all the training documentation for clinical and admin team along with details of Significant event and complaint handling – took me Hours as you can imagine

    In the end – ended up with “Good” overall but no real mention of all the stuff we excel at, which was presented at the original presentation on the day, but not recorded by the inspectors. nothing short of scandalous and scream hypocrisy to think that they stand in judgement on our own organisational prowess etc.

    then they inflate fees to pay for this lunacy makes my blood boil.

    To me this shows that the whole process is flawed and pretty meaningless – to be fair they did offer to revisit but we were unwilling to disrupt our patients access by blocking off 1 hour per doctor again for very little outcome

    Reply

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