England’s Chief Inspector of General Practice has placed an Essex GP practice into special measures following an inspection by the Care Quality Commission.
The Care Quality Commission has found the quality of care at The Shehadeh Medical Centre in Quebec Road, Tilbury, Essex, to be Inadequate following an inspection carried out in December 2014. A full report of the inspection has been published today.
The practice has a patient population of 4,700. The practice has two male GPs and a female GP and the nursing team consists of a nurse practitioner, two practice nurses and a health care assistant who is also a trained phlebotomist.
Under CQC’s new programme of inspections, all of England’s GP practices are being given a rating according to whether they are safe, effective, caring, responsive and well led.
Inspectors found that there were limited systems in place to monitor the safety and effectiveness of the care and support being provided.
Patients were not being appropriately monitored to ensure safe and effective prescribing of medicines. The systems in place were not sufficiently robust to identify where patients had failed to attend for blood tests, screenings or medication reviews.
The report highlights a number of areas where improvements must be made including:
- The practice must ensure that safe prescribing and monitoring of medicines is always carried out.
- The practice must ensure that risks are identified and appropriately managed. There must be robust systems in place to ensure the timely review of test results,
- Effective cleaning systems and risks assessments must be undertaken by staff undertaking chaperone duties.
- The practice must obtain and act in accordance with the patients consent.
CQC is working closely with NHS Thurrock CCG and NHS England to support the practice, which is provided by Dr Emil Shehadeh, while it addresses the issues identified by the inspection.
Janet Williamson, Deputy Chief Inspector of General Practice and Dentistry in CQC’s Central region said:
“It is important that the people who are registered with The Shehadeh Medical Centre can rely on getting the high quality care which everyone is entitled to receive from their GP.
"Although the patients we met told us they were treated with dignity and respect, and that staff were helpful and friendly, we also found that care and treatment was not always delivered in line with best practice.
“We know that Dr Emil Shehadeh has acknowledged the areas where action must be taken. We have found significant areas of concern, which is why we are placing the practice into special measures - so opening the way to 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.”
Ends
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Find out more
Read our reports on The Shehadeh Medical Centre.
It is important that the people who are registered with The Shehadeh Medical Centre can rely on getting the high quality care which everyone is entitled to receive from their GP.
Janet Williamson, Deputy Chief Inspector of General Practice and Dentistry, CQC Central region