‘Inadequate’

A GP Surgery has been placed in special measures after an inspection by the Care Quality Commission (CQC) found it was "inadequate" in every category.

Dr Sidhu's Medical Centre, based at Werneth Primary Care Centre on Featherstall Road South, was slammed by inspectors and rated in the lowest band in all areas including care, safety, effectiveness, leadership and responsiveness.

Issues raised by inspectors included loose prescriptions found in cupboards, medicines not stored at the correct temperatures and emergency equipment kept in separate locations around the practice.

Inspectors also found an uncovered sandwich in a clinical fridge.

The report stated: "We saw several loose prescriptions in cupboards in the lead GP's room mixed with hospital correspondence regarding patients and personal items of the GP."

The process for maintaining medicines within the correct safe temperature range was also found to have been breached in clinical fridges with inspectors noting that temperatures were not regularly recorded and were sometimes recorded outside the safe range. Inspectors also raised concerns with the safety of patients as the practice "did not have clearly defined and embedded systems, processes and practices in place to keep patients safe and safeguarded from abuse".

Reception staff who acted as chaperones for patients during appointments had also not received training for the role.

Patients were complementary about the practice, including telling inspectors that they felt involved in decision making about the care and treatment they received.

However difficulty accessing appointments was noted on 13 of the 30 CQC comment cards reviewed.

Concerns with patient records were also raised with the report adding: "The notes we saw were brief and incomplete.

"History, medical examinations and diagnostic reasoning were not adequately recorded."

Emergency equipment, including oxygen and a defibrillator were kept in separate locations within the practice and not with emergency medicines, meaning equipment would need to be collected from various places in an emergency.

The practice was praised for being clean and tidy, however inspectors found no evidence of lead GP and practice nurse receiving infection control training.

Staff appraisals had also not taken place since March, 2013, and mandatory training, such as safeguarding and fire procedures, had also not been completed for several years.

The report also found that staff employed after January, 2015, had not received basic life support training and emergency medicines were taken with the lead GP on home visits, meaning they would be unavailable if there was an emergency in their absence.

The practice, which was inspected in January and has 4,750 registered patients, was placed in special measures and will be inspected again within six months.

If insufficient improvements have been made and a rating of "inadequate" remains in any category, the CQC will take action in line with enforcement procedures to begin the process of preventing the provider from operating the service.

The Chronicle contact the GP practice on several occasions for a comment on the inspection report.