Archived: Somers Town Medical Centre

Regulation 13 requires that people using the service are protected from the risks associated with unsafe use and management of medicines. We found that some vaccines were stored in an unsecured fridge and that others had passed their use by date. There was no up-to-date record of regular checks being made to ensure that expired medications were disposed of and not used in error.

Regulation 19 requires that providers must have in place an effective system for identifying, receiving, handling and responding to complaints and comments made by people who use services. We saw that only minimal information was given to people on how to submit a complaint about the service. The provider had no system for people using the service to submit comments. The provider did not monitor or respond to comments left by people using the service on the NHS Choices website.

Regulation 21 requires that providers operate effective recruitment procedures and maintain certain records relating to staff. There was limited evidence to show that the provider carried out appropriate pre-employment checks and ongoing checks to confirm that staff working at the practice were, and remained, suitable to do so.

Following our inspection in January 2014, the provider sent us a plan of the actions intended to meet the requirements of the regulations. At this inspection, we checked that the actions had been implemented. We spoke with the practice manager and administrative staff and inspected documents and records relating to the management of medicines, complaints handling and recruitment procedures and records keeping. We inspected the storage facilities for medications. We saw that the provider had introduced new procedures to address the concerns we had identified. We found that the actions taken by the provider were appropriate and sufficient to comply with the regulations.

Patients told us that their needs were met and they were mostly happy with the quality of the service. However, one person said that the communication with patients was poor 'they often cancel appointments without letting me know.' We saw that patients were not always satisfied with the way staff spoke to them.

We noted that care and treatment was planned and delivered in a way that was intended to ensure people's safety and welfare.

The provider had systems in place to ensure patients were protected from the risk of acquiring health related infection.

However, the provider did not always take account of patients' views and opinions in order to improve the service. Comments patients made were not always responded to appropriately.

People were not cared for by suitably qualified, skilled and experienced staff because the provider did not follow proper recruitment procedures.

People were not protected against the risks associated with medicines because the provider did not have appropriate arrangements in place to manage medicines.