The CQC has informed Everything CQC that of the 7,607 of GP practices registered with the CQC some 20% (1,545) have declared non-compliance with at least one of the CQC’s 16 essential standards.
The CQC states that ‘the two biggest areas of declared non-compliance were around premises and infection control’.
At the time of Registration, providers were entitled to declare non-compliance with the regulations but were required to submit an action plan setting out how they planned to become compliant together with timescales.
Editor’s Comments:
1. The 20% figure does not take into account potential misdeclarations at registration. Our audits indicate actual non-compliance to be as much as 40% or more because many practices declared full compliance at the time of registration in the hope of ‘catching up’ by April 2013.
2. To avoid penalty notices or other serious consequences we strongly recommend that you put your ‘house in order’ in accordance with the action plan agreed with the CQC or the level declared at the time of registration.
3. It was revealed last month that practices have spent an average of £2500 just to get through registration. This cost will increase if practices are still not compliant.
| Outcome | Number of primary care service providers that declared non-compliane with the outcome |
| Respecting and involving people who use services | 291 |
| Consent to care and treatment | 211 |
| Care and welfare of people who use services | 258 |
| Meeting nutritional needs | 58 |
| Cooperating with other providers | 196 |
| Safeguarding people who use services from abuse | 523 |
| Cleanliness and infection control | 863 |
| Management of medicines | 142 |
| Safety and suitability of premises | 810 |
| Safety, availability and suitability of equipment | 237 |
| Requirements relating to workers | 269 |
| Staffing | 164 |
| Supporting worker | 217 |
| Assessing and monitoring the quality of service provision | 230 |
| Complaints | 77 |
| Records | 210 |
| Total | 1546 |
Source: CQC
