England’s Chief Inspector of General Practice has rated a Sunderland GP surgery as Inadequate and placed the practice into Special Measures following an inspection by the Care Quality Commission.
A specialist team of inspectors rated the service provided by Dr Rex Obonna as Inadequate for providing services that were safe, caring, effective, and well-led, and Requires Improvement for responsiveness.
The practice was inspected in September 2015 by an inspection team which was led by a CQC Lead Inspector. The team also included a GP specialist adviser and a second CQC inspector. A full report of this inspection has been published on this website today.
The Care Quality Commission has identified a number of areas where the provider must make improvements, including:
- The practice must introduce effective procedures for reporting, recording, acting on significant events, incidents and near misses and ensure that learning is shared with all relevant staff.
- Ensure safety alerts received by the practice are recorded and acted upon appropriately.
- Make sure effective systems are in place for safeguarding children and adults and that the management and recording of significant events and serious case reviews ensures learning and reflection.
- Ensure staff receive appropriate training as is necessary to perform their role.
CQC is working closely with the local Clinical Commissioning Group 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 with Dr Rex Obonna can rely on getting the high quality care which everyone is entitled to receive from their GP.
“The standard of care at this practice was not good enough. The practice did not have a clear vision and strategy. Staff we spoke with were not clear about their responsibilities. For example, the GP was not engaged with the management of the practice or aware of the responsibilities of the registered manager.
“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 Manager David Fryer on 07901 514220.
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.
Find out more
Read our reports about Dr Rex Obonna.