North London GP practice rated as Inadequate

The Care Quality Commission (CQC) has rated Dr Aman Raja of Parklane Medical and Surgical Services in Haringey, North London, as Inadequate and has placed the provider into special measures following an inspection in October 2015.

Placement into special measures means that the provider must now make necessary improvements or face action that could result in closure.

Under CQC’s programme of inspections, all primary medical services in England are being given a rating according to whether they are safe, effective, caring, responsive and well led.

The full report for the Dr Aman Raja inspection has been published on this website.

Dr Aman Raja provides primary medical services to around 900 patients within the London borough of Haringey, including high numbers of patients aged under 18 years old, or with long standing health conditions or carer responsibilities.

CQC inspectors found that the practice had a limited range of emergency medicines available which put some patient groups at risk.

There was little evidence of learning from events or appropriate action taken to improve safety, with significant events sometimes discussed with staff but not consistently recorded. Some staff members did not recognise the types of issues that may constitute concerns, incidents or near misses.

Inspectors observed poor infection prevention and control, with a lack of annual audits, equipment and building cleaning schedules.

At the time of the inspection, the CQC team were informed that the GP would shortly be taking a leave of absence for more than 28 days, but there were no arrangements in place to ensure adequate clinical staffing cover.

However, patients told CQC inspectors that they had positive interactions with practice staff and that staff treated them with compassion, dignity and respect.

Ursula Gallagher, Deputy Chief Inspector of General Practice:

"When we are faced with a provider that is experiencing difficulties in providing adequate care for patients, our first instinct is to work with them to ensure that patient care improves.

“We are confident that Dr Aman Raja will take any necessary action to address the concerns we identified during our most recent inspection.

“In particular, the provider must ensure that a wide range of emergency medicines are available, that significant events are consistently recorded and discussed to share learning, and that appropriate staffing arrangements are put in place in order to reduce risks and improve patient safety.

“The practice infection control policy must be up to date and full infection control audits must be completed regularly.  

“We will re-inspect within six months to check whether sufficient improvements have been made. If sufficient improvements have not been made and there remains a rating of inadequate for any key question or overall, we will take further action which may include closure.”

Ends

For further information please contact Yetunde Akintewe, CQC Regional Engagement Manager, on 07471 020 659. For media enquiries, journalists wishing to speak to the press office outside of office hours can find out how to contact the team here. For general enquiries, please call 03000 61 61 61.