GP out of special measures but ‘still needs improving’

A GP surgery in a village near Ashbourne has been taken out of special measures but told it must make more improvements.

Earlier this year Brailsford and Hulland Medical Centre was rated inadequate in a damning report which stated there were “serious concerns over patient safety” at the surgery.

It said leaders at the time “could not demonstrate they had the capacity and skills to address the challenges within the practice”.

Following the critical Care Quality Commission (CQC) inspection report, the Brailsford-based practice underwent a change of management with South Dales Health taking over the day-to-day running of the surgery.

Inspectors revisited the GP practice in November to see if improvements were being made. And following the inspection, the GP surgery was lifted from “inadequate” status. However, more improvements are required, says the Care Quality Commission - with its new status “Requires Improvement”.

A new inspection report states: “Since our inspection of the previous provider, improvements had been made in safeguarding procedures, infection prevention and control, management of significant events, staff induction and the management of medicines. However, we found ongoing issues.”

Some of the issues included:

Some clinical staff had not completed safeguarding training at a level appropriate to their role. Alerts had not been added to the records of people living in the same household as a child with a safeguarding concern.

Recruitment checks were not always carried out in accordance with regulations particularly locum staff.

Some opportunities to carry out risk assessments had been missed.

Fire drills had not been completed on a six-monthly basis as detailed in the practice’s fire prevention policy.

Equipment to monitor oxygen saturation levels in children was not available within the practice.

Some sharps bins and cytotoxic clinical waste bins were undated meaning staff were not aware of the required disposal date. There was no evidence that cleaning schedules were in place.

Nevertheless, following the latest inspection, inspectors said leaders of the practice “demonstrated they had the capacity and skills to address the challenges within the practice”. It also praised staff who dealt with patients “with kindness, respect and compassion”.

A spokesperson for South Dales Health said the new management team were keen to carry forward the momentum it achieved.

“The inspection was brought forward to recognise the progress made in a short time but also to allow the CQC to identify if the assurance was present to safeguard patients and services (out of Special Measures),” the spokesperson said. “While we are extremely pleased with the progress made in just a handful of months, we have a distance to go still and we are certainly not dropping momentum, we will be proceeding with Phase 2 of the restorative action plan with renewed vigour.

“We continue to welcome community engagement as we shape the services over coming months and we anticipate another inspection in the new financial year where we would hope to get green across the board (Good). “During the C19 vaccination surge, Hulland Ward will be closed until January, to ensure our part in the expedited vaccination campaign against Omicron is robust alongside our SDH colleagues and our St Oswald’s Based SDH C19 Vaccination Clinic (LVS).

“We are thankful to all our patients who continue to support us in our plans and during this tricky C19 vaccination campaign.”

While we are pleased with the progress, we have a distance to go and will not drop momentum.

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