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Was your CQC inspection a good experience?

Yes

Dr Matthew Piccaver

Dr Matthew Piccaver

It was good on the whole, although we started off somewhat fearful. We came in at a weekend and went through everything to ensure compliance.

On the day, I talked at the poor inspector incessantly for hours – he looked exhausted. The pharmacy inspector was so impressed with what our pharmacist had done, he left early.

We employed a locum to see patients for the day to free us up. A stream of patients came in, all with positive things to say.

We received a ‘good’ rating. We treated the inspectors with kindness and courtesy, were open to their feedback, and had everything they needed to hand well in advance.

It gave us a good reason to spring clean and introduce a lot of positive changes. Our staff got a morale boost.

Dr Matthew Piccaver is a GP in Sudbury, Suffolk

 

No

Dr Dominique Thompson

Dr Dominique Thompson

Source: Dr Dominique Thompson

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Dr Dominique Thompson

We prepared for the inspection and were confident our presentation would go down well but we were faced with inspectors who just did not understand what they were dealing with.

We listed all our unique achievements, like an eating disorder service, a day bed unit for students and a highly successful meningitis campaign. Despite this the inspectors implied we would only get a rating of ‘requires improvement’ partly because we hadn’t mentioned alcohol – which we do treat as part of routine care. I was speechless. It was the worst day of my career.

I had to come in on my day off and spend eight hours typing out an 11-page document challenging them. In the end, the only criticism they had was that we didn’t have photocopies of all the locums’ IDs – but patients aren’t put in danger because we don’t have a photocopy of a document. The inspections are completely bureaucratic.

I received an apology letter in the end. The inspection was in March, it wasn’t sorted until early August; I didn’t sleep properly for three months after it. It cost hours and hours of time that I could have spent on patient care.

Dr Dominique Thompson is a GP at a university practice in Bristol