Sunderland GP surgery returns to special measures following CQC inspection

England’s Chief Inspector of General Practice has rated Hylton Medical Group, Sunderland as Inadequate and placed the practice back into special measures following an inspection by the CQC in February 2017.

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. This inspection sees the practice return to special measures.

Read the full report of this inspection.

Alison Holbourn, Deputy Chief Inspector of General Practice at CQC said: "We found that people registered with Hylton Medical Group are not getting the high quality care which everyone should expect to receive from their GP.

"Following improvements at a previous inspection in April last year, the practice has been unable to sustain these and they now return to special measures.

"We remain particularly concerned about the effectiveness of the service that the practice provides to patients. There were no audits taking place so staff had no way of knowing if the services provided to patients were improving their outcomes, and no way of knowing in which areas they needed to drive improvement.

"Following this inspection we also found fresh concerns around leadership at the practice. We weren’t confident that the practice were providing effective clinical leadership or that leaders had a comprehensive understanding of the practice performance.

"I do not believe that the practice is likely to resolve its challenges without external support; therefore we are placing the practice back into special measures to ensure that action will be taken to improve the quality of care for patients."

Some of the areas where CQC have told the practice they must improve:

• The practice should ensure there is discussion and leadership around best practice and clinical guidelines at practice level.
• They should ensure there is a programme of clinical improvement initiatives.
• The practice should ensure there is clinical input into the practice nurses appraisals.
• The practice should ensure all staff receive training appropriate to their role.

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 on 07464 92 9966 or kerri.james@cqc.org.uk.

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