England’s Chief Inspector of General Practice has placed a GP practice from Tunbridge Wells into Special Measures following an inspection by the Care Quality Commission.
The Care Quality Commission has found the practice of Dr Latla Sachdeva also known as Abbey Court Medical Centre at St Johns Road in Tunbridge Wells, Kent, to be Inadequate following an inspection carried out in May 2016. A full report of the inspection has been published today: www.cqc.org.uk/location/1-500922994
Dr Latla Sachdeva provides primary medical services to approximately 4,388 patients in the locality.
Under CQC’s programme of inspections, all of England’s GP practices are being given a rating according to whether they are safe, effective, caring, responsive and well led.
Inspectors rated the practice Inadequate for being safe, effective and well-led , Requires Improvement for being caring and Good for being responsive to the needs of people.
Ruth Rankine, Deputy Chief Inspector of General Practice for the South, said:
“It is important that the people who are registered with Dr Latla Sachdeva can rely on getting the high quality care which everyone is entitled to receive from their GP.
"Although the patients we met told us they were treated with dignity and respect, we also found that care and treatment was not always delivered in line with best practice.
“We know that Dr Latla Sachdeva has acknowledged the areas where action must be taken. We have found significant areas of concern, which is why we are placing the practice into special measures - so opening the way to support from NHS England among others.
“We will continue to monitor this practice and we will inspect again in six months to check whether improvements have been made. I am hopeful that the practice will do what is required for the sake of its patients, but if we find that the service remains inadequate, we will consider taking further action.”
The report highlights a number of areas where improvements must be made including:
- Staffing levels were at a minimum level, which had a significant impact when staff were absent, due to sickness or holidays. There was a lack of evidence to demonstrate that actions were being taken to address this.
- There was a lack of appropriate or suitable governance systems and processes. Information about safety needs to be used to promote learning and improvement by ensuring there are formal arrangements for monitoring safety, significant events, incidents and concerns; using information from audits, risk assessments and routine checks.
- The practice must ensure that recruitment arrangements include all necessary employment checks for all staff. Including appropriate risk assessments being completed for all staff where Disclosure and Barring Service (DBS) checks are deemed unnecessary.
Ends
For further information, please contact John Scott, Regional Engagement Manager on 077898 75809. 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.