England’s Chief Inspector of General Practice has placed Circuit Lane Surgery and the Priory Avenue Surgery in Reading, Berkshire into special measures following an inspection by the Care Quality Commission in January 2017.
The Care Quality Commission has found the quality of care at the Circuit Lane Surgery and the Priory Avenue Surgery in Reading, Berkshire, to be Inadequate. Full reports of the inspections have been published today
Full reports from both inspections can be found on the our website:
Ruth Rankine, CQC's Deputy Chief Inspector of General Practice, said:
“During our inspections we found that Circuit Lane Surgery and Priory Avenue Surgery were both failing to provide the fundamental aspects of good care that patients have the right to expect from their GP practice."
“Earlier this year we took enforcement action to impose urgent conditions and taking such significant action is not something that the CQC takes lightly. During our inspections in November and January we found that patients were at significant risk and both of these reports and the subsequent ratings fairly reflect our overall findings”
“In this instance we took the right decision to protect people by imposing urgent conditions. While continuing to closely monitor both surgeries, we have found that One Medicare Ltd, has taken our findings very seriously and immediate steps were put in place to ensure the urgent improvements required will be implemented."
“The North and West Reading Clinical Commissioning Group (CCG) have been liaising closely with CQC about the improvements required and have provided significant support to both practices in resolving the areas of concern and of highest level of risk. The close monitoring by CQC and support from the CCG has resulted in early improvements to the service for patients."
“We will return in due course and, if satisfactory improvements have not taken place, we will not hesitate to use further enforcement measures”
Key findings from inspection in January found a number of areas where both practices must improve including:
- Inspectors found risks to patients were not assessed or well managed and some patients were at significant risk of harm.
- Staffing levels were not appropriate to ensure the practice was staffed to a safe level and to ensure appropriate care was given to address patient’s health needs.
- There was a significant backlog of patient correspondence not yet reviewed or filed onto the record system.
- There was not appropriate learning from events and complaints to ensure improvements to safety and quality were made.
During our inspections we found that Circuit Lane Surgery and Priory Avenue Surgery were both failing to provide the fundamental aspects of good care that patients have the right to expect from their GP practice.
Ruth Rankine, CQC's Deputy Chief Inspector of General Practice