Download our latest GP CQC MythBusters here. It includes mythbuster on infection prevention & control, practice nurses and more!
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In this Bulletin:
- CQC Latest Mythbusters
- Nigel’s Surgery 99: Infection Prevention and Control in General Practice
- Nigel’s Surgery 95: Non-medical Prescribing
- Nigel’s Surgery 98: Surgical Plumes
- Nigel’s Surgery 24: Reporting Patient Safety Incidents to the National Reporting and Learning System (NRLS) for GP Practices
- Nigel’s Surgery 91: Patient Safety Alerts
- Nigel’s Surgery 26: Practice Nurses
- Nigel’s Surgery 57: Health Care Assistants in General Practice
There are now 99 GP MythBusters on the CQC website, where Professor Nigel Sparrow clears up some common myths about CQC inspections of GP and out-of-hours services and shares agreed guidance to best practice.
Nigel’s Surgery 99: Infection Prevention and Control in General Practice – NEW
This is a new mythbuster that the CQC have added. In addition to the general infection prevention and control (IPC) requirements, it specifically covers:
- Curtains and window blinds
- Carpets
- Health care waste
- General clinical waste
- Sharps
- Hand hygiene
The QCS Infection Control and Decontamination Policy and Procedure has been updated to reflect this.
Nigel’s Surgery 95: Non-medical Prescribing
Although there have been no specific changes to this guidance during the COVID-19 pandemic, this mythbuster was updated last month. GP Practices need to ensure that they carry out staff risk assessments and take appropriate steps to assure safety, by:
- Ensuring non-medical prescribers (NMPs) are registered with the relevant professional regulator
- NMPs have their prescribing qualification annotated on the register
- NMPs have adequate medical indemnity
The QCS Medicines Policy and Procedure has been updated to reflect this.
Nigel’s Surgery 98: Surgical Plumes
Surgical plumes (also known as surgical smoke) are potentially harmful and are produced by electrocautery devices. A new mythbuster has also been released this week to remind Practices who offer this service to carry out risk assessments which should identify all risks associated with the premises and procedures, and should also show active risk management.
Nigel’s Surgery 24: Reporting Patient Safety Incidents to the National Reporting and Learning System (NRLS) for GP Practices
This mythbuster update covers:
- How to report a Patient Safety Incident to the NRLS
- What should be reported
- What happens to the reports
Reporting Patient Safety Incidents to the NRLS is highlighted in the QCS Accident and Incident Reporting Policy Procedure, and the QCS Serious Incident Notification Policy and Procedure.
Nigel’s Surgery 91: Patient Safety Alerts
This mythbuster has just been updated to reflect the changes made to the way MHRA now issues safety-critical alerts, which are those that have a risk of death or disability.
MHRA issued an update on 17 September 2020. They will now issue all safety-critical alerts for medicines and medical devices that require action as National Patient Safety Alerts (NPSA). All healthcare providers that currently receive medical device alerts and drug alerts must ensure they subscribe to receive National Patient Safety Alerts. Failure to take the actions required by any NPSA may lead to the CQC taking regulatory action in England.
Nigel’s Surgery 26: Practice Nurses
This mythbuster, which considers whether staff (including General Practice Nurses (GPNs)) have the skills, knowledge and experience to deliver effective care and treatments, has also been updated and covers:
- Training and continuing professional development (CPD)
- Appraisals
- NMC registration
- Indemnity insurance
Nigel’s Surgery 57: Health Care Assistants in General Practice
This mythbuster is the latest to be updated and states that ‘HCA’ covers both Health Care Assistants and Assistant Practitioners.
The CQC expects Practices to show how they have trained HCAs for all aspects of their role, and how they assessed competence of HCAs when they started the task and throughout their employment. This could be done by a range of methods, and could involve a combination of:
- Directly observed and recorded clinical encounters
- External training events/updates
- In-house reflection on practice with a mentor who has appropriate expertise
