CQC publishes report on St Mary’s Medical Centre in Nottingham

The Care Quality Commission has published its report on St Mary’s Medical Centre, Nottinghamshire, following an inspection which found the quality of care to be Inadequate and which resulted in the service being suspended.

Inspectors rated the practice, in Harvest Close, Top Valley, as Inadequate for providing safe, effective, caring and well-led services as a result of the inspection on 10 February. It was also rated Requires Improvement for being responsive to people’s needs.

Concerns highlighted during the inspection resulted in CQC using its enforcement powers to suspend the service’s registration until May. This meant that the provider could not provide GP services from that site during the suspension period.

The inspection team found a number of concerns, including:

• Patients were at risk of harm because the systems and processes in place did not always ensure their safety. This included that patient records were not always updated following consultations.
• The provider did not have robust processes to support child and adult safeguarding.
• The arrangements for involving patients in decisions regarding end of life care, in obtaining their consent to treatment and tests, were inadequate.
• The practice team were unclear regarding their responsibilities to report incidents and near misses, and there was no evidence of learning by sharing findings with staff.
• There was limited evidence to show audits resulted in improvements to patient outcomes.
• The provider had insufficient leadership capacity and did not employ a practice manager or a practice nurse.
• There were insufficient staffing levels to ensure safety and provide effective service delivery.
• Staff files were not efficiently organised. Details of pre-recruitment checks were largely absent and training details were not recorded and updated centrally.

Janet Williamson, Deputy Chief Inspector of General Practice and Dentistry in CQC’s Central region, said:

“Our inspection team’s findings at St Mary’s Medical Centre led us to believe that unless we took urgent action patients would or may be placed at risk of harm.

“There were a number of significant concerns including that systems in place were not effective, particularly with regard to safeguarding children and adults. There were not enough staff to ensure patient safety and effective delivery of the service and arrangements for involving patients in their end of life care were completely inadequate.

“Additionally, the service wasn’t demonstrating that it shared learning from incidents with its teams.

“Although patients told us they were treated with dignity and compassion, we also found that care and treatment was not always delivered in line with best practice.

“As a result of the significant areas of concern we identified, we used our enforcement powers to suspend the provider’s registration with CQC to protect the safety and welfare of people using this service. We liaised with the Clinical Commissioning Group (CCG) and NHS England (NHSE) during this process to ensure patients could find alternative GP services in their area.

“We continue to work closely with both the CCG and NHSE with regard to the service.”

St Mary’s Medical Centre’s registration is suspended until May this year. CQC is monitoring the situation concerning the service very closely and this will include further inspections before the service can re-open.

A full report of the inspection, which details inspectors’ findings, is available.