Southwark GP suspended for three months

England’s Chief Inspector of General Practice has taken urgent action against Dr Rashid Kadhim to suspend him for three months from providing general medical services at Avicenna Health Centre in Southwark, south east London.

Care Quality Commission Inspectors carried out an announced inspection in May. They rated the surgery as overall Inadequate. Inspectors rated the practice as Inadequate in all areas it rates - for being safe, effective, well-led, caring and responsive.

Avicenna Health Centre has been temporarily closed and its patients have been for the time being been referred to the nearby Aylesbury Medical Partnership.

Ursula Gallagher, Deputy Chief Inspector of General Practice in CQC’s London region said: “It is important that the people who are registered with Dr Rashid Kadhim can rely on getting the high quality care which everyone is entitled to receive from their GP.

“However, we found patients were at risk of harm because systems and processes were not in place to keep them safe. There were concerns about staff training, staff appraisals and infection control practice.

“The practice must introduce robust processes for reporting, recording, acting on and monitoring significant events and incidents.

“It must take action to address concern identified with infection control and put in place appropriate systems to enable it to respond to emergencies. It also needs to securely store patient records and review security around blank prescriptions.”

This service is in special measures. Services placed in special measures will be inspected again within six months. If insufficient improvements have been made CQC will take action in line with enforcement procedures to begin the process of preventing the provider from operating the service. This will lead to cancelling their registration or to varying the terms of their registration within six months if they do not improve.

Ends

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Notes to editors

Patients registered with practices being placed into special measures should be aware that the package of support being offered by NHS England and the Royal College of GPs will ensure that there are no immediate risks to patient safety at these GP practices whilst improvements are being made.