A GP practice in Welling south-east London has been rated Inadequate overall by the Care Quality Commission and placed into special measures to help it get the support it needs to improve.
Bexley Group Practice based in Upper Wickham Lane in the London Borough of Bexley was rated Inadequate for being safe and well-led. It was rated Requires Improvement for being caring and responsive. It was rated Good for being effective, following the announced comprehensive inspection in June 2017.
It was originally rated as Requires Improvement overall in 2015.
Inspectors’ key findings included:
Patients were at risk of harm because systems and processes were not in place to keep them safe.
Equipment recommended for treating certain medical emergencies was not available.
The practice did not have suitable systems and processes in place to ensure medicines were available, appropriately stored and fit for use.
Some patients reported that the appointment systems were not working well so they did not receive timely care when they needed it.
The areas where the provider must make improvements include:
- Ensure care and treatment is provided in a safe way to patients.
- Establish effective systems and processes to ensure good governance in accordance with the fundamental standards of care.
The areas where the provider should make improvement include:
- Review patient record keeping ensuring the most up to date test results are appropriately stored and available to clinicians when carrying out patient consultations.
- Ensure there are arrangements in place to improve childhood immunisation rates.
- Improve systems and processes that support the identification of patients with caring responsibilities.
- Consider ways to improve patient satisfaction regarding access to appointments.
- Improve patient satisfaction with the areas of nurse consultations and interactions with reception staff where the practice scored poorly in the most recent GP patient survey.
Professor Ursula Gallagher, Deputy Chief Inspector of General Practice, at CQC said:
As a result of the deterioration found at the most recent inspection we are placing Bexley Group Practice in special measures. Services placed in special measures will be inspected again within six months. If insufficient improvements have been made we will take action in line with our enforcement procedures to begin the process of preventing the provider from operating the service.
“Special measures will give people who use the service the reassurance that the care they get should improve.”
You can read the report in full on our website.
when the report is scheduled to be published on the CQC website on Thursday 23 November 2017.
Ends
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As a result of the deterioration found at the most recent inspection we are placing Bexley Group Practice in special measures
Professor Ursula Gallagher, CQC Deputy Chief Inspector of GP Practices