England’s Chief Inspector of General Practice has placed an Essex 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 Stansted Surgery in East Stansted, Essex to be Inadequate following an inspection carried out in April 2015. A full report of the inspection has been published today.
The Stansted Surgery Practice provides medical services to approximately 9,000 patients living in the Stansted area.
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.
Some patients we spoke with said they experienced unacceptable waits for some appointments. Concerns were identified on the CQC comment cards and of the eight patients we spoke with on the day of the inspection six patients voiced dissatisfaction.
The report highlights a number of areas where improvements must be made including:
- Assess, monitor and mitigate the risks relating to the health, safety and welfare of patients, staff and visitors to the premises.
- Seek and act on feedback from patients, for the purposes of continually evaluating and improving services.
- Ensure recruitment procedures are established and operated effectively to confirm that people employed are suitable for the role for which they are employed.
- Assess, monitor and improve the quality and safety of the service provided by putting in place processes for sharing and learning from significant events and complaints with all staff.
- The infection control lead must have appropriate knowledge and skills to undertake the role.
- Consultation room must be appropriately located to allow patients with mobility limitations to have access to timely appointments.
Janet Williamson, Deputy Chief Inspector of General Practice and Dentistry in CQC’s Central region said:
“It is important that the people who are registered with The Stansted Surgery 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 The Stansted Surgery 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.”
Ends
For further information, please contact Jade Quittenton, Regional Engagement Officer on 0191 2333649.
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.
Find out more
Read our reports about The Stansted Surgery.