England’s Chief Inspector of General Practice has again rated Merseybank Surgery in Chorlton cum Hardy as Inadequate and the practice remains in special measures following an inspection by the CQC in January.
The practice was originally rated Inadequate and placed into special measures in July 2015. Following improvements, and another inspection, the practice’s rating was amended to Requires Improvement in April 2016. However inspectors were still concerned about the safety of patients so they remained in special measures to ensure close monitoring. This latest inspection sees the practice again rated as Inadequate.
A full report of this inspection has been published on our website.
Alison Holbourn, CQC's Deputy Chief Inspector of General Practice, said:
“We found that people registered with Merseybank Surgery are not getting the high quality care which everyone should expect to receive from their GP."
“Although there were improvements at a previous inspection in April last year, we still had concerns about safety at the practice, so they remained in special measures to ensure there was close monitoring and support available for them to improve. However, the practice has been unable to sustain the improvements and they now return to special measures."
“We remain particularly concerned about the safety of the services being provided. We found that the practice was not responsive to learning from incidents, and where risks were being identified, appropriate action was not taken to reduce the likelihood of a repeat."
“Following this inspection we also found fresh concerns around leadership at the practice. For example patients had been informed that a merger would be taking place imminently but this is not the case, and there were no formal plans in place. The GP as sole provider and decision maker did not have any plan or evidence as to how the practice would maintain improvement, whilst a merger was negotiated, or what would happen if a merger did not take place."
“CQC are taking enforcement action against this provider to ensure that steps will be taken to improve the quality of care for patients.”
Some of the areas where CQC have told the practice they must improve:
- Have systems and processes that are established and operated effectively to ensure that an effective service is being provided.
- The practice should ensure all staff receive training appropriate to their role.
- Have a system to obtain patient feedback and monitor verbal comments and complaints
- Ensure care and treatment is provided in a safe way.
- Take appropriate action whenever risks and issues are identified.
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.
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.
Ends
For further information please contact CQC Regional Engagement Officer Kerri James by email kerri.james@cqc.org.uk or by phone on 07464 92 9966.
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We remain particularly concerned about the safety of the services being provided
Alison Holbourn, CQC's Deputy Chief Inspector of General Practice