England’s Chief Inspector of General Practice has placed a Surrey GP practice into special measures following an inspection by the Care Quality Commission.
The Care Quality Commission has found the quality of care at The Molebridge Practice in Leatherhead, Surrey, to be Inadequate following an inspection carried out in August 2015 by a CQC team which included a CQC lead inspector, a GP specialist adviser and a Practice manager specialist Adviser
A full report of the inspection has been published today.
Ruth Rankine, Deputy Chief Inspector of General Practice in CQC’s South region said:
“It is important that the people who are registered with The Molebridge Practice can rely on getting the high quality care which everyone is entitled to receive from their GP.
“The practice did not have processes in place to prioritise safety, identify risks and improve patient safety. For example, there was a lack of safeguarding arrangements in place to protect vulnerable adults and children because staff had not received the appropriate training and this posed a risk to patient safety.
“We know that The Molebridge Practice 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 within six months of publication 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.”
A spokesperson for NHS England – South said:
“General practice is the bedrock of the NHS and the majority of practices inspected are rated good, with some rated outstanding. These inspections are about ensuring that every patient, anywhere across the country, receives consistently high quality services by identifying issues so improvements can be made.
“Molebridge Practice has confirmed its commitment to making the necessary improvements set out by the Care Quality Commission (CQC). NHS England is working alongside NHS Surrey Downs Clinical Commissioning Group (CCG) to support the practice to take the action needed to make sure it has the right processes in place to support the delivery of safe, high quality care to all its patients.”
Under CQC’s new 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.
The practice had a vision to deliver high quality care and promote good outcomes for patients, which was shared by all of the staff we spoke with. However we did not see any evidence that the practice had any strategy for the future and to ensure as far as was possible that the service continued to operate.
The report highlights a number of areas where improvements must be made including:
- Ensuring staff undertake training to meet their needs, including training in the safeguarding of vulnerable adults and the Mental Capacity Act 2005. It was clear some staff did not have a clear understanding so that staff could safely support patients with long term mental health needs.
- Ensure that medicines are securely stored and that fridge temperatures are monitored to ensure the cold chain is maintained. CQC will inspect the practice again to consider whether sufficient improvements have been made and support the practice while it addresses the issues identified by the inspection.
Ends
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Find out more
Read our reports on The Molebridge Practice.