One of the big talking points of recent weeks has undoubtedly been the hefty increase in CQC inspection fees. In a nutshell, the proposals would mean fees for an average-sized GP practice with 5,001-10,000 patients increase by almost £2,000, to £4,500. What’s more, an article in Pulse says that the Department of Health has been…

After 15 minutes providing the CQC chief inspector (aka ‘the chief’) with a thorough overview of the PPG things started to get a bit more interesting and I must admit that I found the remainder of the ‘discussion’ valuable, insightful, useful and in a few cases ‘eye-opening’! As best I can, I’ll try and group…

Part one of three: The CQC inspection process through the eyes of a PPG chairman  “As a PPG Chairman I’ve heard a lot about the CQC in recent times… so last month I admit I was particularly pleased to hear they were visiting our practice. Being a proactive PPG chair, I encouraged PPG members to do…

Once the dreaded communication arrives from the CQC informing you of your inspection date it can spark a number of sleepless nights. What can you do to prepare? How do you know what you’re doing is right? What will the inspectors be looking for? Prompted by a thread on the Practice Index Forum started by…

By 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…

Earlier this week the flop that was the care.data initiative was finally scrapped for good. Having cost the NHS big – both in terms of money and human resource – it was decided enough was enough. While that news was surely celebrated by GP practice managers up and down the country, another data exercise was…

In the past week, the CQC has published a further 81 reports on the quality of care provided by GP practices that have been inspected. Another two practices were found to be outstanding, 61 practices were rated good, nine require improvement and, worryingly, five received inadequate ratings. Outstanding performance Leading the way with an outstanding…