The Care Quality Commission (CQC) has rated Modality Mid Sussex inadequate and placed it in special measures to protect people, following an inspection in May and June.
This inspection was carried out because the practice was a newly registered service following the merger of four established practices (Crawley Down Health Centre, Judges Close Surgery, Park View Health Partnership and Ship Street Surgery). However, it was also carried out in response to concerns reported to CQC, including people’s access to the service.
Following this inspection, the practice has been rated inadequate overall and for being safe, responsive, and well-led. Its rating for being effective is requires improvement and caring is rated as good.
The service has now been placed in special measures and CQC has issued two warning notices to focus the practice’s attention on making rapid and widespread improvements in how they are managing the safe care and treatment of people using the practice and to ensure they are managing the service well.
CQC will closely monitor the service during this time to keep people safe.
Neil Cox, CQC deputy director of operations in the South, said:
“When we inspected Modality Mid Sussex, we were disappointed to find that the practice didn’t have enough capacity to meet people’s demand for appointments.
“On-the-day appointments were often filled by mid-morning and reception staff were then asked to redirect people to local accident and emergency departments, community pharmacies and the local walk-in minor injuries unit or contact NHS111. The lack of access to appointments also impacted the care of people using the services.
“The practice did try to manage this risk by asking staff to work extra hours and employing locum GPs, but the unmanageable additional workload left staff morale low.
“We found some people identified as having a potential missed diagnosis of diabetes, hadn’t received follow up blood tests within the required timescale. We also found that national guidelines weren’t always being followed in response to blood test results which meant their care wasn’t always being monitored properly.
“It was very concerning that the practices didn’t seem to have a good grip on managing medications. We saw some people diagnosed with asthma and prescribed rescue steroids, had been issued with the wrong dosage and documentation around this wasn’t detailed enough.
“We’ve used our enforcement powers and issued two warning notices which highlight the areas we need to see significant and immediate improvements. The practice has already submitted an action plan detailing how they intend to improve.
“In the meantime, we’ll continue to monitor this service, including through further inspections, to make sure people are receiving the safe care they deserve, and won’t hesitate to take further action if needed.”
Inspectors also found:
- There wasn’t an effective process for monitoring people’s health in relation to the use of medicines including high risk medicines
- People’s immediate or ongoing clinical needs and their mental and physical well-being needs weren’t always fully assessed
- People’s treatment wasn’t always regularly reviewed and updated
- People who arrived with symptoms which could indicate serious illness, didn’t always have these followed up appropriately
- There weren’t effective systems in place for identifying or managing risks.
However:
- There was evidence that complaints were used to try and drive continuous improvement
- Staff communicated with people in a way that helped them to understand their condition and treatment, and any advice given
- Staff understood and respected the personal, cultural, social and religious needs of people.