England’s Chief Inspector of General Practice has told a Newcastle upon Tyne GP practice that it must improve. The Dilston Medical Centre has been placed in special measures following an inspection by the Care Quality Commission in September and October 2017.
Inspectors rated the practice inadequate in all areas - safety, caring, effectiveness, responsiveness and well led.
A full report of the inspection can be found on our website.
CQC had previously carried out inspections at this location in December 2014 and Novembers 2016, on both occasions the service was rated’ requires improvement’.
The report highlights a number of areas of concern including:
Inspectors found that patients were at risk of harm because systems and processes were not in place to keep them safe. Inspectors also found that there were concerns about the processes for infection control, handling clinical correspondence and the premises not being adequately maintained.
When things went wrong, reviews and investigations were not always sufficiently thorough and did not always include all relevant people.
Patients’ outcomes were very variable, and sometimes significantly worse, when compared with other similar services.
Alison Holbourn, Deputy Chief Inspector of General Practice for the North, said:
“I expect providers should use our inspection reports to help address their problems and rectify them as a matter of urgency. It’s therefore disappointing to report that following two previous inspections in 2014 and 2016, this practice had deteriorated even further.
“There was little evidence of learning or reflective practice evident. The practice did not have effective processes in place to learn and improve. In addition, the practice overarching governance framework was not effective and did not support the practice to identify and act upon areas for improvement. This is clearly worrying and is likely to impact on patient care."
“I’m concerned that warnings given to the service in 2014 and 2016 in respect of the poor quality and state of repair of the building had not been acted on. These and other matters in respect of the state of the building still remained outstanding. This is not acceptable”
“It is important that the people who are registered with The Dilston Medical Centre 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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There was little evidence of learning or reflective practice evident
Alison Holbourn, Deputy Chief Inspector of General Practice in the North