Sheffield GP Surgery placed into special measures by CQC

England’s Chief Inspector of General Practice has rated a Sheffield GP surgery as Inadequate and placed the practice into special measures following an inspection by the Care Quality Commission (CQC).

A specialist team of inspectors rated the Barnsley Road Surgery as Inadequate for providing services that were safe, effective and well-led, and Requires Improvement for providing caring and responsive services.

Under CQC’s new programme of inspections, all of England’s GP practices are being inspected and given a rating. Overall, Barnsley Road Surgery has been rated as Inadequate and placed in special measures. The service was also rated inadequate for the services provided to all population groups.

The practice was inspected in October 2015 by an inspection team which included a GP and a practice manager as specialist advisors.

A full report of this inspection has been published on this website today.

Inspectors found that the practice was clean and tidy, and patients were positive about their experience of care and treatment. Staff understood their responsibilities to raise concerns and respond to safeguarding incidents.

However, inspectors also identified a number of concerns. The practice was taking action to improve infection prevention and control procedures but not all staff had been given appropriate training in this area.

Some staff including a salaried GP had not received Disclosure and Barring Service checks to ensure their suitability to work with  those whose circumstances may make them vulnerable. Leadership at the practice was not clearly defined, and it was uncertain which member of staff was the responsible person in certain areas of care.

The practice did not always have robust systems, processes and policies in place to manage and monitor risks to patients, staff and visitors to the practice. Inspectors also identified concerns with medicine management including vaccines that were not being kept at the correct temperature.

The Care Quality Commission has identified a number of areas the practice must improve, including:

• The practice must develop suitable formal governance arrangements and systems to share information about new clinical guidelines with staff, (NICE).
• The practice must ensure that clinical audits are undertaken to identify and appropriately respond to areas in need of improvement, including fire health and safety checks and the recording and reporting of incidents.
• The practice must make sure all policies are reviewed regularly and updated accordingly.
• The practice must ensure the safe storage of vaccines at all times.
• The practice must ensure staff receive appropriate training or regular updates relevant to their role.
• The practice must ensure Disclosure and Barring Service checks (DBS) are undertaken on all relevant staff.

CQC is working closely with Sheffield CCG 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 at Barnsley Road Surgery can rely on getting the high quality care which everyone is entitled to receive from their GP.

“Governance arrangements need to be strengthened to ensure effective systems are in place to regularly assess and monitor the quality of services provided. Action must also be taken to address the wider concerns we identified so that patients receive safe, high-quality primary care.

“I do not believe that the practice is likely to resolve its challenges without external support. This is why we are placing the practice into special measures.

“After a period of six months we will inspect again to check whether sufficient improvements have been made. If we find that the service provided by this practice remains inadequate, we will consider taking steps to cancel its registration with CQC.”

Patients registered with the practices being placed into special measures should be aware that the package of support being offered by NHS England and the Royal College of GPs will 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 Communications Officer Mark Humphreys on 0191 233 3519 or 07881656012.

Journalists wishing to speak to the press office outside of office hours can find out how to contact the team here. Please note: the press office is unable to advise members of the public on health or social care matters. For general enquiries, please call 03000 61 61 61.