CQC update for primary medical and dental services

This bulletin was sent at 28-10-2021 12:46 PM BST

The independent regulator of health
and social care in England

Update from CQC

28 October 2021

Webinar on clinical searches

We review medical records when we inspect GP and urgent care services. This is to assess the quality of care provided by the practice.

During the COVID-19 pandemic, we have explored ways of working that reduce risk, and minimises the amount of time spent on site, whilst enabling us to continue regulating. We have developed processes to accommodate digital access to GP clinical systems.

These clinical searches cover important clinical areas and focus on the delivery of safe and effective care. More information can be found in our GP Mythbuster.

We will be running a webinar on Tuesday 16th November by CQC's Dr Janet Hall and Dr Tim Ballard, to explain these searches in more detail and what they mean for General Practice.

Click below to sign-up.

Sign-up

CQC State of Care Report 2021

Our annual assessment of the state of health and social care in England looks at the quality of care over the past year.

This year's State of Care reflects on how the system has dealt with the COVID-19 pandemic by working collaboratively and the impact on people who use care services. The report highlights key areas affecting the system as a whole across four common themes.

Read the report

GPs entering care homes

From 11 November 2021 care homes must only allow individuals who are fully vaccinated against COVID-19 (or exempt) entry inside of a care home. This requirement will apply to those visiting a care home in a professional capacity unless exempt.

To demonstrate evidence of vaccination status NHSX are considering how the NHS COVID Pass service could be used to support registered persons and staff to check and demonstrate vaccine status. In the interim, registered persons can choose to use the existing NHS COVID Pass service to view an individual’s vaccination status.

Operational guidance can be found here and an FAQs can be found below.

FAQs

Medicines Safety Week

Medicines safety week 1-7 November 2021

The first week of November marks the annual #MedSafetyWeek. This year the focus will be on vaccines and reporting side effects.

Remember to discuss with colleagues and patients the importance of reporting suspected adverse drug reactions to the Yellow Card scheme. The MHRA launched its public health campaign to inform those receiving Covid-19 vaccines about how to report a suspected side effect to the MHRA's Yellow Card scheme on the Coronavirus Yellow Card reporting website.

The campaign aims to ensure those looking to report any vaccine side effect know where to go and what to do. Anyone can report to the Yellow Card scheme, whether for themselves or on someone else’s behalf.

Yellow card reporting

Our annual survey of providers launches in December

We will be sending an online survey to all providers to learn about their views and experiences of CQC and help monitor the successful delivery of our strategy.

This is our fourth Annual Provider Survey. The survey is voluntary and anonymous. It’s sent to all providers.

From the 3^rd December we send emails containing a link to the survey to each provider inviting them to complete and submit the survey. The survey will run for three weeks.

We ask providers to complete one survey for the location or provider where they are the registered manager or nominated individual. The survey gives CQC really useful feedback, so we encourage providers to complete it, issuing reminders during the three week window the survey is available.

If you have any questions about the survey please email: ProviderSurvey@cqc.org.uk

Other news

An NHS letter is available in over 20 languages to explain to people without an NHS Number how to get the COVID-19 vaccine. It reassures them they do not need to have a GP or an NHS number and that COVID-19 vaccines are available to every adult living in the UK, free of charge without any immigration checks.

The NHS became the world’s first health service to commit to reaching net zero carbon emissions

Dental mythbuster 34: Complaints management

Dental mythbuster 35: Medicines management in dental practices

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