The Care Quality Commission (CQC) has decided to put a practice in Newcastle upon Tyne in special measures following its latest inspections in September and October 2017.
During previous inspections, Dilston Medical Centre was rated ‘requires improvement’ and ‘deteriorated even further’, the CQC inspectors found.
The most recent report said that the practice was ‘inadequate in all areas’.
Commenting on the report, Dr Nicolae Botan of Dilston Medical Centre said that they have already a plan in place to improve their service.
Risk of harm
Dilston Medical Centre provides care for 8,900 patients, who ‘were at risk of harm because systems and processes were not in place to keep them safe’, according to the CQC report.
The inspectors also found that the premises were not appropriate, while patients thought the practice needed renovation and additional seating in the waiting room.
Deputy chief inspector of general practice for the North Alison Holbourn said: ‘I’m concerned that warnings given to the service in 2014 and 2016 in respect of the poor quality and state of repair of the building had not been acted on. These and other matters in respect of the state of the building still remained outstanding. This is not acceptable.
‘It is important that the people who are registered with The Dilston Medical Centre can rely on getting high quality care. The service has been placed in special measures and will be kept under review and if needed could be escalated to urgent enforcement action, and if there is not enough improvement we will move to close the service.’
Taking steps to improve
Dr Botan said: ‘Our priority has always been to provide high quality medical care for our patients.
‘We are taking steps to make immediate improvements as well as putting a longer term solution in place. With a strengthened management team and a new team of GPs in place, we are confident that we will meet the inspectors’ requirements over the coming months.’
NHS Newcastle Gateshead Clinical Commissioning Group (CCG) said it had been working closely with the practice to ensure they would improve.
Director of operations and delivery at NHS Newcastle Gateshead CCG Jane Mulholland said: ‘While we have been helping the practice, they have recruited new GPs and added to their management team. The practice team are continuing to develop their work to address concerns around the building, procedures for clinical correspondence and other systems and processes.’
