CQC places P.A. Patel Surgery in Benfleet into Special Measures

England’s Chief Inspector of General Practice has placed an Essex GP practice into special measures following an inspection by the Care Quality Commission.

The Care Quality Commission has found the quality of care at P.A.Patel Surgery in Benfleet, Essex, to be Inadequate following an inspection carried out in November 2015. A full report of the inspection has been published today.

P.A.Patel Surgery is a small practice located in Benfleet within a residential area. At the time of inspection there were 2573 patients on the practice list.

Under CQC’s new programme of inspections, all of England’s GP practices are being given a rating according to whether they are safe, effective, caring, responsive and well led.

Inspectors found that the practice was inadequate for providing safe services that were caring and well led. It was rated Good for being responsive and rated Requires Improvement for being effective

The report highlights a number of areas where improvements must be made including:

• The practice must embed a system to ensure patients receive appropriate and timely reviews.
• The practice must ensure recruitment arrangements include all necessary employment checks for all staff.
• Clinical audits including re-audits to ensure improvements have been achieved must be carried out.
• Systems must be implemented to ensure all clinicians are kept up to date with national guidance and guidelines. Such information needs to be implemented to ensure patients receive appropriate care and reviews.
• The practice must implement formal governance arrangements including systems for assessing and monitoring risks and the quality of the service provision.

CQC is working closely with NHS Castle Point and Rochford CCG to support the practice while it addresses the issues identified by the inspection.

Janet Williamson, Deputy Chief Inspector of General Practice and Dentistry in CQC’s Central region said:

“It is important that the people who are registered with P.A.Patel Surgery can rely on getting the high quality care which everyone is entitled to receive from their GP.

"Although the patients we met told us they were treated with kindness, dignity and respect, we also found that care and treatment was not always delivered in line with best practice. Patients were at risk of harm because systems and processes were not in place to keep them safe. For example, appropriate recruitment checks on staff had not been undertaken prior to their employment and systems were not in place to ensure the safe storage of vaccines.

“We know that P.A.Patel Surgery has acknowledged the areas where action must be taken. We have found significant areas of concern, which is why we are placing the practice into special measures - so opening the way for the practice to receive support from NHS England among others.

“We will continue to monitor this practice and we will inspect again in six months to check whether improvements have been made. I am hopeful that the practice will do what is required for the sake of its patients, but if we find that the service remains inadequate, we will consider taking further action.”

Ends

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