Professor Steve Field, the Chief Inspector of General Practice at the CQC has indicated that CQC inspectors are finding some smaller GP practices are faring worse in CQC inspections.
He said CQC’s inspectors had found “some extraordinary brilliant small practices” stating that many of those that did better in inspections shared data and services with others. He added “we have a statistically significant correlation between the size of practice and the likelihood they will fail [in inspections].” But clarified his belief that others struggled “because they’re isolated, not because they’re small.”
He confirmed that CQC would continue to prioritise inspecting smaller practices due to the patterns observed.
CQC has inspected over 300 GP practices since the new inspection regime came into force on 1 October 2014 and it is due to publish the results of a number of these in the next coming days. It has been indicated that CQC is due to publish at least two “outstanding” ratings but a number of services have been found to be “inadequate” with two potentially needing to be put in special measures.
