The Care Quality Commission (CQC) has rated a Basildon GP practice inadequate and placed it in special measures.
CQC inspected Aegis Medical Centre, on Whitmore Way, after identifying issues with the service through its regular monitoring.
The inspection found the service was not providing standards of care people have a right to expect.
In addition to rating it inadequate overall following the inspection, CQC rated the service inadequate for being safe, effective and well-led. It rated it requires improvement for being caring and responsive to people’s needs.
The service was previously rated good overall.
Due to the poor care inspectors found, CQC placed the service in special measures. This means it is being kept under close monitoring and it will be subject to further enforcement action if improvement is not made.
Andy Brand, CQC head of inspection for primary medical services, said:
“Standards of care at Aegis Medical Centre were below those people have a right to expect.
“We found some patients didn’t receive comprehensive face-to-face assessments where these were required, and blood test results weren’t reviewed effectively.
“We also found people’s complaints weren’t always used to improve the care provided, and there were many complaints about access to the service.
“We are keeping Aegis Medical Centre under close review and we will not hesitate to take further action if we are not assured it has made significant improvement.”
The inspection also found:
- Systems and processes to keep people safe were ineffective
- Safeguarding and recruitment procedures required strengthening
- There was no system to check all staff were up to date with their routine immunisations
- Legionella and fire risk assessments hadn’t been completed in the last year
- There wasn’t a system to conduct annual infection prevention and control audits
- There were ineffective systems for the safe management of medicines. Some patients with long-term conditions or on high-risk medicines had not received appropriate monitoring
- Patient safety alerts were not effectively actioned
- There were ineffective systems to monitor staff training
- Do not attempt cardiopulmonary resuscitation (DNACPR) decisions were not in line with legislation
- Cervical screening uptake was below the national target
- There wasn’t an effective quality assurance improvement programme
- Patient survey data was below average for patient satisfaction, patient consultations and overall experience of the practice – and there was no effective plan to improve.
However:
- The service logged all complaints and ensured each received a response
- Childhood immunisations uptake rates met targets
- Staff reported they worked well as a team and felt supported by the service’s leaders.