Advising with empathy and experience

Urgent action taken on Scunthorpe GP centre.

 

Urgent action has been taken by the Care Quality Commission (CQC) to remove the registration of a Scunthorpe GP practice, which was failing to safely care for patients.

A specialist team of inspectors visited Market Hill 8-8 Centre, operated by Danum Medical Services Limited, earlier this year and found it was not providing safe care and treatment. The visit was in January by an inspection team comprising a GP,  pharmacist and  practice nurse as specialist advisors.

They found that there were insufficient systems in place to appropriately safeguard patients from potential risks and, as a result, patients did not always get the treatment they needed.

A review of care records identified serious concerns with the management of some vulnerable patients and access to services and appointments was frequently problematic. The CQC said that patients experienced unacceptable wait times.

There was also no evidence of any investigations being conducted following complaints, or any actions to prevent reoccurrence and no clinical leadership at the practice. Also few, or no, clinical governance systems were in place. For example, there was no effective system for identifying, capturing and managing issues and risks to patient safety.

The service was rated as Inadequate for providing services that were safe, effective, responsive to people’s needs and well led, and Requires Improvement for being caring.

Overall, Market Hill 8-8 Centre was rated Inadequate for the services provided to all population groups and, due to the serious concerns identified, CQC acted to vary the conditions of provider’s registration, preventing Danum Medical Services Limited, from providing GP services at Market Hill 8 - 8 Centre.

NHS England immediately made alternative arrangements for care provision at the practice, temporarily, until a new provider is appointed, to ensure patient safety.

CQC deputy chief inspector of general practice, Sue McMillan, said: “The care provided by Danum Medical Services Limited, at Market Hill 8 - 8 Centre, was simply not good enough. There were many aspects that were not safe and put patients at risk of avoidable harm.

“The practice had failed to ensure patient safety, and we were left with no other choice but to take urgent action and remove the location from the provider’s registration.”