CQC places Ramanathan Surgery in Rayleigh 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 Ramanathan Surgery, in Rayleigh, Essex, to be Inadequate following an inspection carried out in December 2015. A full report of the inspection has been published today.

Ramanathan Surgery provides primary medical services to approximately 4,380 patients in Rayleigh, Essex.

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 well led. It was rated Requires Improvement for being effective, responsive and caring.

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

• The practice must introduce processes for reporting, recording, acting on and monitoring significant events, incidents and near misses.
• The practice must take action to address identified concerns with emergency medicines and equipment.
• The leadership structure in the practice must be clarified to ensure there is leadership capacity to deliver all improvements.
• The practice must ensure prescription pads are stored securely and their use is monitored.
• A structured method of sharing information with all staff must be implemented including learning from complaints and serious incidents to help drive improvement within the practice.

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 Ramanathan 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. Staff were not clear about reporting or recording incidents, near misses and concerns and there was no evidence of learning and communication with staff.

There was no clear leadership structure at the practice and staff did not feel supported by the partners.

“We know that Ramanathan 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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