England’s Chief Inspector of General Practice has placed Hove Medical Centre, West Way in Brighton, into special measures following a Care Quality Commission inspection which found the quality of care to be Inadequate overall.
Inspectors rated the practice as Inadequate for being safe, effective, caring, well-led, and responsive to peoples’ needs following an inspection in March 2016. A full report of the inspection, which details inspectors’ findings and highlights the areas where improvements must be made, has been published: www.cqc.org.uk/location/1-572957960
Garry Higgins, Head of Inspection for General Practice in CQC’s South region said:
“It is important that the people who are registered with Hove Medical Centre can rely on getting the high quality care which everyone is entitled to receive from their GP.
“Patients and staff were at risk of harm because systems were not embedded well enough to keep them safe. For example, staff employment checks, infection control, the premises, equipment and unforeseen events were not well managed to ensure appropriate mitigating action was 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.”
Sarah Macdonald, Director of Commissioning at NHS England South East said:
“GP services are at the heart of the NHS and it is important they deliver a high standard of care to all their patients, who rely on the care and treatment they provide.
“We will be working with NHS Brighton and Hove Commissioning Group (CCG) to support Hove Medical Centre to make the necessary improvements for its patients.”
The report highlights a number of areas of Inadequate practice, including:
The practice had not ensured that staff had the relevant qualifications, recruitment checks, knowledge and skills to provide safe care. The practice could not demonstrate that all staff had received relevant child and adult safeguarding training.
Adequate systems and processes were not in place to ensure that risks were assessed, monitored, improved or mitigated in relation to the health and safety of patients. For example, cleanliness had not been monitored and vaccines and medicines were not all stored or managed safely. People’s dignity, respect and privacy had not been reasonably met, for example, conversations held at reception could be heard from the waiting area.
Whilst the practice prioritised high quality compassionate care, they did not adequately identify issues that threatened the delivery of safe, high quality care.
Ends
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Find out more
Read reports from our checks on the standards at Hove Medical Centre