CQC rates Leeds GP Practice as Inadequate

England’s Chief Inspector of General Practice has told a Leeds GP that the practice must improve following an inspection by the Care Quality Commission.

A specialist team of inspectors rated the service provided by Dr Sunil Srivastava (Richmond Medical Centre) practice in Leeds as Inadequate for being safe, effective, responsive and well-led, and required improvement to be caring. The practice has been given 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.

Dr Srivastava’s practice was inspected in October 2014. The inspection team was led by a CQC Lead Inspector and included a GP and another CQC inspector. A full report of this inspection has been published today. 

The majority of patients who met inspectors were complimentary about the care they received. People told inspectors that staff treated them with dignity and respect.

While urgent appointments were usually available on the day they were requested, inspectors were told that the routine appointment system was not working, as patients experienced difficulty getting through on the telephone and were often waiting long periods of time when attending for their appointment.

The Care Quality Commission has identified nine areas for improvement, including:

• The practice must review systems for assessing and monitoring the quality of the service provision and take steps to ensure risks are managed appropriately.
• The practice must take action to comply with the Code of Practice for Health and Social Care on the prevention and control of infection and related guidance. The practice had no lead for infection control and there had been no recent infection control audits undertaken.
• Recruitment arrangements must include all necessary employment checks for all staff. Appropriate recruitment checks on staff had not been undertaken prior to their employment, for example criminal records checks (Disclosure and Barring Service - DBS).
• Patients’ dignity and privacy must be is maintained in relation to their care and treatment
• Patients’ medical records and personal details must be held securely and remain confidential.

CQC has been working closely with Leeds clinical commissioning group, and NHS England to support the practice while it addresses the issues identified by the inspection.

Sue McMillan, Deputy Chief Inspector of General Practice said:

“It is important that the people who are registered with Dr Sunil Srivastava can rely on getting the high quality care which everyone is entitled to receive from their GP.

“Patients said they felt supported and listened to. However, people attending this practice are being exposed to potentially unsafe methods of care, for example the lack of infection control audits.

“The areas of concern, such as the failure to undertake employment checks, that have been identified in the report will need to be addressed and immediate action taken so that people get safe, high-quality and compassionate primary care.

“Dr Srivastava has acknowledged that he must take action to address the specific issues we have identified. If in the coming months we don’t see sufficient improvement, we may have to consider a package of further measures to ensure thatthis practice delivers the care and treatment to a standard that we all expect.”

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