CQC Chief Inspector of General Practice has rated GP Dr Awadh Jha, Chatham as inadequate

A specialist team of inspectors rated the service provided by Dr Awadh Jha as inadequate in four of the domains inspected: safe, effective, responsive, and well-led, while it was rated Requires Improvement for caring. This means that the practice has been given an overall rating of inadequate.

Under CQC’s new programme of GP practice inspections, led by Professor Steve Field, Chief Inspector of General Practice, all of England’s GP practices are being inspected and given a rating.

The practice was inspected in November 2014 by an inspection team which included a CQC inspector and a GP specialist advisor. A full report of this inspection has been published on the CQC website.

Inspectors found the practice had a recruitment policy that set out the standards it followed when recruiting staff. However, the practice could not demonstrate that these standards had been followed or that recruitment checks had taken place prior to employment.

There was a policy to help ensure medicines were kept at the required temperatures. However, this was not being followed by the practice staff as the refrigerator temperatures had not been checked regularly

Inspectors observed the practice was unable to demonstrate it was equipped to deal with emergencies in line with national guidance. Records viewed showed that not all staff were up to date with basic life support training.

The Care Quality Commission has identified nine specific areas for improvement the practice must do including:

• Ensure the availability of appropriate medicines and equipment to deal with a medical emergency.
• Protect patients and others who may be at risk of inappropriate or unsafe care and treatment, by means of the effective operation of quality assessment and monitoring systems.
• Review their recruitment processes to help ensure that staff employed at the practice are safe to work with vulnerable children and adults.

Ruth Rankine, Deputy Chief Inspector of General Practice said:

“Dr Jha operated the practice in a way which failed to meet the fundamental aspects of good care and treatment that people have the right to expect from their GP - high quality, compassionate and safe.

"Our inspection report has set out the actions the practice is required to take to address the concerns we identified. We will continue to monitor the service to ensure that the safety and wellbeing of patients using the service is fully protected.

“With the right support, I expect this practice to be transformed. After a period of six months we will inspect again to check whether sufficient improvements have been made. If we find that the service provided by this practice remains inadequate, we will consider taking steps to cancel its registration with CQC.”

Patients registered with practices being placed into special measures should be aware that the package of support being offered by NHS England and the Royal College of GPs will ensure that there are no immediate risks to patient safety at these GP practices whilst improvements are being made. These practices will not close.

Ends

For further information please contact CQC Regional Engagement Manager, John Scott on 07789 875809. Alternatively, the CQC press office can be contacted on 0207 448 9401 or out of hours on 07789 876508.