A GP practice in Southall, Ealing, west London, has been rated Inadequate overall by the Care Quality Commission.
Northcote Medical Centre in Northcote Avenue will now be entered into special measures and given assistance to help it improve. It was rated Inadequate for being safe, effective, caring and well-led. However, it was rated Good for being responsive to people’s needs.
Actions the practice must now take include:
- It must record and investigate safety incidents thoroughly.
- It must ensure all staff undertaking the role of chaperone have the required training and a DBS check.
- Address concerns found with infection prevention and control.
- Carry out regular checks on emergency equipment to make sure it is in good working order.
- Develop a system to obtain patients views on improving the service and introduce an effective staff appraisal system.
The practice looks after around 1600 patients in an area of London where 90% of people are of Asian ethnic origin. Inspectors said that information about services was limited and not everybody would be able to understand or access it. For example, there were no information leaflets available in Punjabi or Gujarati despite there being a large number of patients from that patient population group on the practice list. Inspectors said the practice should provide practice information in appropriate
languages and formats.
Ursula Gallagher, CQC's Deputy Chief Inspector of General Practice said:
“We are placing Northcote Medical Centre into special measures. Services placed in special measures will be inspected again within six months."
“The service will be kept under review and if needed could be escalated to urgent enforcement action. Where necessary, another inspection will be conducted within a further six months, and if there is not enough improvement we will move to close the service by adopting our proposal to remove this location or cancel the provider’s registration. Special measures will give people who use the service the reassurance that the care they get should improve."
“We were pleased, however, that patients were positive about their interactions with staff and said they were treated with compassion and dignity.”
Patients registered with the practices being placed into special measures should be aware that a package of support is offered by NHS England and the Royal College of GPs to ensure that there are no immediate risks to patient safety at these GP practices whilst improvements are being made.
A full report of this inspection has been published on our website.
Ends
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Special measures will give people who use the service the reassurance that the care they get should improve
Ursula Gallagher, CQC's Deputy Chief Inspector of General Practice