Update

Our monthly update for providers and professionals working in primary medical and dental services

General practice mythbusters and tips - patient registration

We are often asked how we assess whether a practice is responsive to needs of its population. An important principle is that GP practices should be proactive in understanding the needs of different groups of people and deliver care to meet these needs. General practice can play an active role to improve population health and this is considered in our responsive key question.

We have published a mythbuster on this issue, which sets out that anyone, regardless of nationality and residential status, may register and consult with a GP without charge. In line with the NHS constitution, practices should not refuse to register someone because they cannot produce proof of identity or immigration status or proof of address. Refusing to register someone, for example because of their nationality or because they are a Gypsy or Traveller, may also breach the Equality Act 2010. Our key line of enquiry R2 looks at how well services take into account of the needs of different people, including those in vulnerable circumstances which can include those from the Traveller and Gypsy community, vulnerable migrants and sex workers.

We have also published additional mythbusters on what practices need to consider in their care of these vulnerable groups. 

• Nigel's surgery 29: Looking after homeless patients in general practice sets out our specific expectations for meeting the needs of homeless people.
• Nigel’s surgery 36: Registration and treatment of asylum seekers and refugees sets out our expectations for meeting the needs of asylum seekers and refugees.

Join CQC’s digital participation platform!

We are piloting a different way of gaining your feedback and ideas to shape our work – a digital platform. You will be able to get involved in different ways: sharing your feedback through discussions, reviewing documents, responding to surveys, posting your own ideas, and voting and commenting on the ideas of others.

This is a pilot so we’ll be collecting views throughout on what people think and how we could make it even better!

How do I sign up? It's easy! Follow the instructions on the sign up page.

You can use an email address or your Google or Facebook account. We’ll also ask you a few questions about what groups you represent and what health and social care services you use, work in or are interested in. This information is important to us because it will help us make sure you see the participation opportunities that are relevant to your interests.

Improved guidance on how to display your ratings Ratings help people find out about the quality of health and care services. It is a legal requirement for services to display their rating at each location delivering a regulated service and, if applicable, on their website.  We have improved our guidance on how services can comply with the regulation.

Reporting to the LeDeR programme

The Learning Disabilities Mortality Review (LeDeR) programme aims to make improvements to the lives of people with learning disabilities. It is delivered by the University of Bristol and commissioned by the healthcare Quality Improvement Partnership (HQIP) on behalf of NHS England.

A key part of the programme is to support local areas to review the deaths of people with learning disabilities to take forward any lessons learned and make improvements to service provision. 

All deaths of people with learning disabilities should be notified to the LeDeR team. This is to help determine the numbers of people with learning disabilities who die each year, and their characteristics. For more information, visit the LeDeR programme website.

News from CQC

• Kate Terroni, CQC's new Chief Inspector of Adult Social Care starts her role on 1 May 2019. 
• We will be exhibiting a number of conferences and exhibitions over the course of the next month, come and speak to us at:
  • Primary Care and Public Health Show, taking place from 15-16 May in Birmingham. Visit us on stand B56.
  • the British Dental Conference and Dentistry Show, taking place from 17-18 May in Birmingham. Visit us on stand E65.
  • the RCN Congress, taking place from 19-23 May in Liverpool. Visit us on stand D24.
• We have added further prompts to some statutory notification forms. Read the full update. We also produce a mythbuster for general practices on what they need to consider when notifying CQC about certain events and incidents.

News elsewhere in primary care

• The Human Tissue Authority (HTA) have developed a series of online tests on the requirements of their governing legislation. The purpose of these tests are to provide a useful resource for health professionals who work with human bodies, tissue, cells and organs. The tests are non-compulsory, taken anonymously, and will not count as an indicator of compliance against HTA-licensing standards.
• Public Health England (PHE) has published ‘Safeguarding in general dental practice: a toolkit for dental teams’ which clarifies “the roles and responsibilities of the dental team”, signposts “useful safeguarding resources”, and provides “guidance on training requirements.
• NICE has published a summary bringing together all its recommendations and safety advice on the drug valproate.

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