England’s Chief Inspector of General Practice has rated Bredbury Medical Centre, Stockport as Inadequate. The practice is being placed in special measures following an inspection by the CQC in November 2016.
Under CQC’s programme of inspections, all of England’s GP practices are given a rating in five key areas: safe, effective, caring, responsive and well-led.
The practice had previously been inspected in October 2015 and was rated as requiring improvement overall. We found there were gaps in assessment and management of risks and that governance arrangements were not comprehensive.
At this latest inspection, the service was rated as Good for caring, Requires Improvement for effectiveness and responsiveness and Inadequate for safety and well-led.
The practice had not undertaken the key action points required in order to improve following the previous inspection and patients were at risk of harm because systems and processes were not in place to keep them safe. CQC consider that insufficient improvements have been made and there remain continued areas of concern.
Alison Holbourn, Deputy Chief Inspector of General Practice at CQC said:
“It is concerning that the patients of Bredbury Medical Centre aren’t getting the quality care which everyone should expect. This is a service that is failing to meet the required standards.
“Some of the shortfalls could be rectified fairly simply. However we still found shortcomings at this inspection. Recruitment checks on staff had not been undertaken prior to their employment and actions identified to address concerns with infection control practice had not been taken. There were key gaps in risk assessment documentation in such areas as fire safety and legionella.
“The practice was unable to demonstrate that non-clinical staff had received appropriate training around safeguarding vulnerable children, and staff we spoke with confirmed they had not received up to date training. Some simple but important training, in respect of fire safety was lacking. In addition there were ongoing gaps in the practice’s recruitment procedures.
“When inspectors looked at the practice complaints system they found it required improvement. Three of the cases that we looked at had not documented any acknowledgement. We also noted that in two cases, as well as complaining about systems in place within the practice, complainants also raised concerns regarding the manner of staff. One of the patients we spoke to expressed dissatisfaction with how their verbal complaint was dealt with.
“Overall, there has been insufficient improvement at the Bredbury Medical Centre. I do not believe that the practice is likely to resolve its challenges in the short-term consequently it will be placed in special measures. Another inspection will be conducted within six months, and if there is not enough improvement we will move to close the service by adopting our proposal to vary the provider’s registration to remove this location or cancel the provider’s registration.”
A full report of this inspection has been published.
Some of the areas where CQC have told the practice they must improve include:
- Introduce more comprehensive processes for reporting, recording, acting on and monitoring significant events, incidents and near misses
- Take action to address identified concerns with infection prevention and control practice.
- Improve systems around medicines management so that blank prescriptions are logged and their location monitored and patient group directions available to staff are appropriately signed to demonstrate authorisation.
- Ensure staff training is undertaken and appropriately managed to ensure all staff have completed training and have the skills and qualifications to carry out their roles.
Patients registered with the practices being placed into special measures should be aware that a package of support is offered by NHS England and the Royal College of GPs to ensure that there are no immediate risks to patient safety at these GP practices whilst improvements are being made.
Ends
For further information please contact CQC Regional Engagement Manager David Fryer on 07754 438750 or david.fryer@cqc.org.uk.
Journalists wishing to speak to the press office outside of office hours can find out how to contact the team here.
Please note: the press office is unable to advise members of the public on health or social care matters. For general enquiries, please call 03000 61 61 61.