CQC rate Bridge Medical Centre, Crawley as Inadequate

England’s Chief Inspector of General Practice has placed a West Sussex GP practice into special measures following an inspection by the Care Quality Commission.

A specialist team of inspectors has given Bridge Medical Centre in Wassand Close, Three Bridges, Crawley an overall rating of Inadequate and the practice has been placed into special measures.

>Under CQC’s new programme of inspections, led by Professor Steve Field, Chief Inspector of General Practice, all of England’s GP practices are being inspected and given a rating.

Bridge Medical Centre was inspected in March by a CQC team which included a CQC lead inspector, a GP specialist adviser and a Practice manager specialist adviser.

A full report of this inspection has been published on the CQC website today.

Ruth Rankine, Deputy Chief Inspector of General Practice said:

“The way in which the service was provided by Bridge Medical Centre failed to meet the fundamental aspects of good health care that people have the right to expect. There are significant issues to be resolved, but with the right support through the special measures regime, I believe the practice can improve.

We will re-inspect the practice within six months to check whether sufficient improvements have been made. If we find that the service provided by this practice remains inadequate, we will consider further enforcement action."

The Care Quality Commission has identified areas for improvement, which include ensuring:

• all staff have received the training they required to undertake their roles effectively. For example, the majority of staff had not had training on safeguarding vulnerable adults. Not all clinical staff had been trained or assessed as competent in their roles.
• the practice has effective systems in place to ensure that cleanliness is maintained and that the risk of infection is assessed and controlled
• all staff have appropriate checks undertaken before they commence employment.

Ends

For media enquiries, contact John Scott, Regional Engagement Manager, on 077898 75809 or contact CQC’s press office on 020 7448 9401, during office hours, or, out of hours, on 0778 987 6508. For general enquiries, call 03000 61 61 61.