Southbury Surgery rated Inadequate by CQC

An Enfield GP practice has been rated Inadequate by the Care Quality Commission.

Southbury Surgery, run by doctors P Keating and H Appleton, based in Southbury Road, was rated Inadequate overall. It was also rated Inadequate for being safe and effective; Requires Improvement for being caring and well-led and Good for being responsive to people’s needs.

Following the inspection January 2017, CQC inspectors said that the practice must now improve in a number of areas, including:

• Ensuring there is an effective programme for identifying the learning needs and development of staff.
• Make sure clear protocols are in place for managing high risks medicines.
• Monitor, manage and mitigate risks to the health and safety of patients.
• Managing the risks associated with infection control and fire safety by ensuring annual infection control audits and fire risk assessments.

Inspectors also said the practice should: improve the way it manages complaints; improve the uptake in vaccinations for children under two; implement a system to ensure patients with caring responsibilities are identified and offered support and Implement an audit system in relation to the monitoring of prescription pads in accordance with NHS guidelines.

Ursula Gallagher, CQC's Deputy Chief Inspector of General Practice, said:

“We are placing Southbury Surgery 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."

“However, we did note that patients we spoke to at the practice did say that they were satisfied with the care they received and thought staff were approachable, helpful and caring.”

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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