Failing GP surgery fails to make improvements

A FAILING GP surgery faces being shut down by the health watchdog.

Brookdale Surgery on Droylsden Road, Newton Heath, was ordered to clean up its act after it was thrown into special measures by the Care Quality Commission (CQC) last summer.

But when inspectors returned six months later they were disappointed to find that improvements had not been made.

Instead they discovered the service was even worse than before, with key details about patients’ medicines recorded incorrectly.

An inspection by the CQC in November – the report for which was published this month – rated Brookdale Surgery ‘inadequate’ in each of the five key categories; safety, wellled, caring, effectiveness and responsiveness.

It found that both patients and staff were being put at risk as a result of a long list of failures, which included lack of training, mismanagement of medicines, and a ‘potentially worrying practice’ when it came to prescriptions.

Alison Holbourn, the CQC’s deputy chief inspector of General Practice for the North, said that steps were now being taken to prevent Brookdale Surgery from operating a GP service.

She said: “I expect providers should use our inspection reports to help address their problems and rectify them as a matter of urgency. I am therefore disappointed to learn that following an inspection in April 2017 this service has deteriorated. I had hoped there would be an improvement.

“One of the ways medical professionals keep up to date with current and best practice is to read and share information. Inspectors found that patient safety alerts were not disseminated to clinical staff and there was no record that they had been actioned appropriately.

“This could seriously impact on patient safety. In addition there were insufficient day-to-day management structures or time in place to implement, embed and support the practices new internal governance changes required, leaving both patients and staff at risk.

“We found shortfalls within the prescribing of medication which exposed some potentially worrying practice. Monthly checks on emergency medicines were performed by reception staff who had received no training. “We found the recording and documentation was incorrect. For example, expiry dates had been incorrectly recorded. In one case the strength of medicine was incorrectly recorded and one medicine was not documented on the checklist sheet. “It is important that the people who are registered with the Brookdale Surgery can rely on getting high quality care. CQC clearly has concerns and having failed an inspection in April and now in November and in line with our enforcement procedures CQC will begin the process of preventing the provider from operating the service. “This will lead to cancelling their registration or to varying the terms of their registration within six months if they do not improve.” Bosses at the surgery were not available for comment. Alison Holbourn, CQC deputy chief inspector