England’s Chief Inspector of General Practice has told Woodhouse Hill Surgery, Huddersfield that it must improve, after rating it as Inadequate following an inspection in April and May.
Inspectors have rated the practice as Inadequate for safety and well-led and Requires Improvement for responsiveness and effectiveness. For caring they were rated Good. This gives the service its overall rating of Inadequate.
Some of the findings from the report include:
- The surgery did have some safety systems and processes within the practice, to keep patients safe. However, there were areas where improvements must be made, for example a significant number of patients records were not up to date and did not always include clinical information to support safe practice.
- Inspectors examined 15 patient records and found the lead GP had advised patients “to go to hospital”’ if they did not improve. This did not always appear to be appropriate. Inspectors discussed this with the GP who told us they would review this finding.
- Inspectors noted in some patient records that there were incomplete records of clinical findings in respect of a patient with respiratory disease. The record did not contain sufficient information on further findings or treatment for the condition.
Alison Holbourn, Deputy Chief Inspector of General Practice for the North, said:
“It was worrying that since the last inspection in December 2016, the rating for Woodhouse Hill Surgery had fallen from Good to Inadequate. I’m concerned to see that the surgery did not have clear or effective systems for the planning and provision of staffing levels.
“Inspectors found that the service was not keeping an accurate record in respect of patients. They could see there was a significant backlog of patient records that required summarising. This meant that accurate and up to date information was not always available which could put patients at risk.
“On the second day of the inspection inspectors found that leaders and managers were not always present, and the staff on duty did not have a good understanding of day to day activity at the practice. Staff told us that they had mobile phone numbers of the management team. Nevertheless, the nature of the staffing structure plus the capacity and capability to provide leadership was not always evident.
“It is important that the people who are registered with Woodhouse Hill Surgery can rely on getting high quality care. The service has been placed in special measures and 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.”
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It was worrying that since the last inspection in December 2016, the rating for Woodhouse Hill Surgery had fallen from Good to Inadequate
Alison Holbourn, Deputy Chief Inspector of General Practice