CQC rate Bolton practice as Inadequate

England’s Chief Inspector of General Practice has placed a Bolton GP practice - Beehive Surgery - into special measures following an inspection by the Care Quality Commission in June.

Inspectors rated the practice inadequate for safety, responsiveness and well led, requires improvement for effectiveness and good for caring.

Overall the service has been rated as inadequate. Read the full inspection report.

The report highlights a number of areas of concern including:

• There was an absence of clear leadership within the practice. For example, the GP partners did not have an effective relationship and issues that had been identified around the daily working arrangements lacked structure.
• Children and young people were not always treated in an age-appropriate way and recognised as individuals. In addition while patients were able to access appointments they told inspectors there were long waiting times at the practice.

Alison Holbourn, Deputy Chief Inspector of General Practice for the North, said:

“It is important that the people who are registered with the Beehive Surgery can rely on getting the high quality care. There were aspects of safety that caused concern. Significant events were not consistently recorded and discussion in meetings around learning was not recorded. In addition fire extinguishers were all out of date by up to 20 years and this had not been identified by the fire risk assessment carried out in May 2017.

“I was concerned with a number of issues. Clinical complaints were routinely dealt with by the clinician involved. However they were not monitored and not responded to appropriately. We saw no evidence of learning from complaints. In addition although patients could access appointments they told us there was a long waiting time at the practice. We saw evidence of a partner arriving late for surgeries and leaving part way through a surgery.

“We always inspect the quality of care for these six population groups - Older people; People with long term conditions; Families, children and young people; Working age people; People whose circumstances may make them vulnerable and people experiencing poor mental health. I am very disappointed to report that the practice is rated inadequate in all six groups. These areas will need to be addressed as a matter of urgency.

“The Beehive Surgery will need to focus sharply on a number of issues and due to the concerns identified during the inspection CQC has placed this service into special measures. It will be inspected again within six months if they are still operating. The service will be kept under review and if needed could be escalated to urgent enforcement action and if there is not enough improvement we will move to close the service.”