The Care Quality Commission (CQC) has taken action to protect the safety and welfare of people by cancelling the registration of a GP in Chatham, Kent following serious concerns about patient safety at the practice.
CQC’s decision to cancel the registration means that Dr Stephen Lawrence can no longer legally provide primary medical services at the practice in St Mary’s Island, Chatham, Kent. However, on 20 February 2018 a new provider was registered with the Care Quality Commission to provide general practice services from the St Mary’s Island Surgery site. CQC, NHS Medway Clinical Commissioning Group and NHS England have worked together to restore patient safety since they became aware of the situation with Dr Lawrence.
Inspectors took the action regarding Dr Lawrence because they had serious concerns about the service and the risks to people using it.
CQC first inspected St Mary’s Island Surgery in December 2015 and rated the practice as ‘inadequate’ overall. As a result the practice was placed in special measures. The practice worked with NHS Medway CCG and NHS England while in special measures to significantly improve the level of care and treatment. The CQC inspected again in September 2016 and took the practice out of Special Measures as a result of the improvements the practice had made and rated it ‘‘good’ overall and for each of CQC’s key questions.
A further unannounced comprehensive inspection took place in January 2018, which was carried out in response to concerns that had been raised to CQC. CQC found the concerns were such that on the 29 January 2018 immediate conditions were imposed on the Dr Lawrence’s registration with the Care Quality Commission. The conditions included clearing the backlog of prescription requests; and ensuring a suitably qualified experienced person is present at the practice to manage day to day delivery of the service. The practice failed to address these conditions and CQC took action to cancel the Dr Lawrence’s registration.
You can read the report on our website.
CQC’s Deputy Chief Inspector of General Practice, Ruth Rankine, said:
“The way in which St Mary’s Island Surgery was operating under Dr Lawrence failed to meet the fundamental aspects of good care and treatment that people have the right to expect - high quality, compassionate and safe.”
“Enforcement action to close a service is not something that the CQC takes lightly. Where we find that patients are at significant risk, as we did in this case, we have no choice but to work with our partner agencies in order to take action to protect the safety and welfare of the public.”
“In this instance, given the seriousness of what we found on inspection, we are confident we took the right decision to protect people. When necessary, we will use our powers to do what it takes to make sure patients and the public are protected.”
Sarah Vaux, Chief Nurse at Medway Clinical Commissioning Group, said:
“As soon as we were alerted to potential issues we contacted the CQC and worked with them during their inspections. We wish to reassure patients that Dr Lawrence is no longer at the surgery and a dedicated team of medical professionals has reviewed the notes of all the patients registered at the practice. Where necessary all patients have now been contacted.
“If patients have any concerns about their own treatment they are asked to call the helpline on 01634 335281 or email mccg.enquiries@nhs.net. The helpline is available from 8am to 5pm, Monday to Friday.”
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...we are confident we took the right decision to protect people
Ruth Rankine, Deputy Chief Inspector of General Practice