Preston GP Surgery placed into special measures by CQC

England’s Chief Inspector of General Practice has rated a Preston GP surgery as Inadequate and placed the practice into special measures following an inspection by the Care Quality Commission (CQC).

A specialist team of inspectors rated the service provided by Dr Binoy Kumar as Inadequate for providing services that were safe, effective and well-led, and Requires Improvement for providing caring and responsive services.

Under CQC’s new programme of inspections, all of England’s GP practices are being inspected and given a rating. Overall, Dr Binoy Kumar’s practice has been rated as Inadequate and placed in special measures.

The practice was inspected in August 2015 by an inspection team which included a GP as a specialist advisor.

A full report of this inspection has been published on this website today.

Inspectors found that the practice was clean and tidy, and patients were positive about their experience of care and treatment. In addition, staff responded well to safeguarding incidents and were supported by effective safeguarding procedures. However, recording and analysis and learning from any incidents remained ad hoc, and inspectors found little evidence that learning was shared with staff to prevent reoccurrence.

Updated training had taken place, but it was not clear whether it had been disseminated to all staff members because the practice did not keep effective training records.

Although staff reviews were taking place they were generally self-assessments and did not contain evidence of performance monitoring or personal and professional development. Inspectors found issues that were unaddressed concerns raised at the previous inspection.

The practice did not have robust systems, processes and policies in place to manage and monitor risks to patients, staff and visitors to the practice and inspectors identified concerns regarding medicines management.

The Care Quality Commission has identified a number of areas for improvement, including:

• The practice must maintain an accurate record of patient’s care and treatment, particularly in relation to medication reviews.
• The practice must implement a more effective systematic approach to assessing and monitoring the quality of the service provided.
• The practice must implement a clear written protocol or policy for responding to any medical emergency.
• The practice must implement a Do Not Attempt Cardio Pulmonary Resuscitation (DNACPR) policy.
• The practice must implement a more effective systematic approach to identifying and managing risks within the practice.
• The practice must implement a more systematic approach to record and evidence staff training.

CQC is working closely with Greater Preston CCG and NHS England to support the practice while it addresses the issues identified by the inspection.

Sue McMillan, Deputy Chief Inspector of General Practice said:

“It is important that the people who are registered with Dr Binoy Kumar’s practice can rely on getting the high quality care which everyone is entitled to receive from their GP.

“It is unacceptable that the practice has not made required improvements since our previous inspection. Governance arrangements need to be strengthened to ensure effective systems are in place to regularly assess and monitor the quality of services provided. Immediate action must be taken in light of these findings so that people get safe, high-quality primary care.

“I do not believe that the practice is likely to resolve its challenges without external support. This is why we are placing the practice into special measures.

“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 the 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.

Ends

For further information please contact CQC Regional Communications Officer Mark Humphreys on 0191 233 3519 or 07881656012.

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