England’s Chief Inspector of General Practice has rated The Stanmore Surgery in Stanmore, north London, as Inadequate overall.
The practice has been put into special measures, following a Care Quality Commission inspection in May. Inspectors rated the practice as Inadequate for being safe, effective and well-led. It was rated Requires Improvement for being caring and responsive.
Areas where the practice, which provides GP care services to approximately 2,400 people living in the London Borough of Harrow, was found to be failing included:
- Patients were at risk of harm because systems and processes were not in place to keep them safe
- Actions identified to address concerns with infection control had not been taken
- There were serious concerns identified in incident reporting, safeguarding, chaperoning, medicines management, health and safety, fire safety and dealing with emergencies and major incidents
- The practice had no clear leadership structure, insufficient leadership capacity and limited formal governance arrangements.
Professor Ursula Gallagher, Deputy Chief Inspector of General Practice in CQC’s London region said: “It is important that the people who are registered at The Stanmore Surgery can rely on getting the high quality care which everyone is entitled to receive from their GP.
“We have now placed the practice into special measures – which means we will inspect again in six months’ time. This will enable the practice to access all the support it needs via NHS England, using the vulnerable practices scheme.”
Patients registered with 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. These practices will not close.
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