England’s Chief Inspector of General Practice has placed a Bristol GP practice into special measures following an inspection by the Care Quality Commission.
A specialist team of inspectors has given Dr Tom Frewin's practice in Clifton an overall rating of Inadequate.
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.
The practice was inspected in April by a team which included two CQC inspectors, and a GP and a practice nurse acting as specialist advisors. A full report of this inspection has been published on the CQC website today.
Overall the practice was found to be inadequate in its services for all population groups. While patients said they were treated with kindness and respect, inspectors found that people were at risk because systems and processes were not in place to keep them safe.
The practice did not employ a permanent practice nurse, so there was an inconsistent approach to providing care and support to patients with long term health conditions. There were no completed audits of patient treatment outcomes.
When medication and health checks were carried out, patients’ records and test results were not processed and reviewed in a timely way.
Ruth Rankine, Deputy Chief Inspector of General Practice said:
“While patients we met spoke well of the care they received, we have found significant areas of concern, such as the lack of infection control audit and process, poor medicine management, inconsistent maintenance of equipment and too little attempts to monitor safety and respond to risk.
"We found that the care of people was managed reactively. Little attempt had been made to respond to older people’s needs and for those with long term conditions, not enough was being done to check that their needs were being met.
"We do not believe that the practice is likely to resolve its challenges without external support, which is why we have placed it in special measures. The practice has been working with the NHS England area team to ensure they take immediate action, enabling them to fulfil their basic functions safely.
"After a period of six months we will inspect again 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."
Linda Prosser, Director of Commissioning, NHS England South (South West), said:
“We’d like to reassure patients that we are working closely with the practice to ensure that corrective action is being made to address the concerns raised. There is clearly lots to do but we are encouraged by the proactivity of the GP surgery.
“We’re involved with helpful discussions with a local practice who will be able to provide high quality support and advice as well as assisting with implementing the CQC action plan so that we will have sustainable GP care in Clifton Village.”
Ends
For media enquiries about the Care Quality Commission, please call the press office on 020 7448 9401 during office hours. Journalists wishing to speak to the press office outside of office hours can find out how to contact the team here. (Please note: the duty press officer 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 Dr Tom Frewin.