The Care Quality Commission (CQC) has rated Dr MF Haq’s Practice, of the Abbey Medical Centre in Barking, East London, as Inadequate and has placed the provider into special measures following an inspection in May 2015.
Placement into special measures means that the provider must now make necessary improvements or face action that could result in closure.
Under CQC’s programme of inspections, all primary medical services in England are being given a rating according to whether they are safe, effective, caring, responsive and well led.
The full report from the Dr MF Haq’s Practice inspection has been published on this website.
Dr MF Haq’s Practice provides primary medical services to around 6,500 patients, including a high proportion of people with a long standing health condition or with carer responsibilities.
CQC inspectors found that there was limited use of systems to record and report safety concerns, incidents and near misses. Some members of staff were not clear about how to raise or report concerns.
Annual infection prevention and control audits were not available, and there was a lack of cleaning schedules for ear syringe, nebuliser and spirometer equipment.
Practice arrangements for managing vaccines were found to be insufficient. Fridge temperatures were not consistently or appropriately recorded. The practice could not therefore provide assurance that vaccines were being stored within the correct temperature ranges.
There was evidence of a lack of communication between clinical and non-clinical staff which hindered progress to improve patient outcomes. Formal governance arrangements were limited and inspectors noted confusion amongst some staff regarding roles and responsibilities.
However, patients were positive about their interactions with staff and said they were treated with compassion and dignity.
Ursula Gallagher, Deputy Chief Inspector of General Practice said:
“When we are faced with a provider that is experiencing difficulties in providing adequate care for patients, our first instinct is to work with them to ensure that patient care improves.
“We are confident that Dr MF Haq’s Practice will take any necessary action to address the concerns we identified during our most recent inspection.
“In particular, the provider must ensure protocols are introduced to ensure that vaccines are safely managed and stored, all staff understand their roles and responsibilities, and that opportunities to learn from incidents are maximised.
“Infection prevention and control practices must be improved to ensure a reduced level of risk to patients.
“We will re-inspect within six months to check whether sufficient improvements have been made. If sufficient improvements have not been made and there remains a rating of inadequate for any key question or overall, we will take further action which may include closure.”
Ends
For further information please contact Yetunde Akintewe, CQC Regional Engagement Manager, on 07471 020 659. For media enquiries, journalists wishing to speak to the press office outside of office hours can find out how to contact the team here. For general enquiries, please call 03000 61 61 61.
Find out more
Read our reports about Dr MF Haq’s Practice.