Health
Hooper: Your GP Surgery is Safe
The Care Quality Commission’s (CQC) initial reports for all island GP surgeries are now available online.
Health Minister Lawrie Hooper says the island’s GP practices are safe places to receive care, after a CQC report highlighted issues at surgeries.
The Care Quality Commission’s (CQC) initial reports for all island GP surgeries are now available online.
Having reviewed each surgery, the CQC has made recommendations that range from improving administrative processes to carry out annual medication reviews and better monitoring of people living with long-term conditions.
The positive practices highlighted in the report include examples of the surgeries providing exceptionally responsive services, tailored to the needs of their community; weekend cervical cancer screening appointments, chronic illness support groups, awareness raising of care among LGBTQ+ communities, and conducting annual health checks with at risk groups.
Where improvements have been recommended this means that the surgeries have been unable to demonstrate they meet all of the CQC standards. Out of the 13 surgeries inspected, 12 have not reached all the specific criteria, but always meet at least two of the standards, with one surgery meeting all five.
Mr Hooper said: ‘I understand people may have concerns when they read the report for their General Practice, but I want to reassure residents that our GP surgeries are safe places to receive care. I am pleased that all of the surgeries have taken on board the comments from the CQC, and have already started making the changes to improve their services. We need to take these reports in context – the surgeries haven’t met CQC standards, but this is to do with administrative or in-practice processes, not the patient care.
‘As a department we have been assured by Manx Care that these issues are being addressed through action plans and monitoring, and we will receive regular process updates. We want to make sure that all of these recommendations are well implemented, to ensure the people of the Isle of Man are receiving a high-standard of quality service.’
When visiting the locations the CQC cover all areas such as patient safety, access to appointments, information governance, storage processes and staff training. They also take into account the views of patients accessing care and treatment and employees of the services.
