Grantham doctors’ surgery kept in special measures

A doctors’ surgery in Grantham remains in special measures after it was told it still needs to improve following an earlier inspection.

St John’s Medical Centre was placed into special measures in January 2016 following a Care Quality Commission inspection and when inspectors returned to the practice in July they found that, while some improvements had been made, more work was needed.

The CQC found the service ‘inadequate’ when it assessed whether services were safe. It said the practice had put a system in place to safeguard children and adults from abuse, but improvements were still needed.

It also said that although risks to patients from such things as legionella and infection were assessed, it was not implemented well enough to ensure they were kept safe.

But the CQC said that the practice’s services were caring and gave these a ‘good’ rating. It said patients rated the practice higher than many others for several aspects of care.

Janet Williamson, deputy chief inspector of general practice and dentistry in CQC’s central region, said: “Our inspectors found that while staff fulfilled their responsibilities to raise concerns and report incidents, the practice needed to ensure reviews and investigations of these were thorough, that any learning from incidents was disseminated throughout the practice and actions were implemented to improve safety.

“The practice needed to ensure the system for safeguarding people against the risk of abuse and improper treatment was effective and protected people using the service.

“It needed to ensure it was protecting the health and safety of patients prescribed with high risk medicines and to put an effective system in place for the recall of patients with long-term conditions.

“However, patients also told us they were treated with compassion, dignity and respect and they were involved in their care and decisions about their treatment.

“We found information about services and how to complain was available and easy to understand and patients said they found it easy to make an appointment with a named GP.

“We will continue to monitor this practice and we will inspect again to check on whether improvements have been made. I am hopeful the practice will do what is required for the sake of its patients, but if we find that the service remains inadequate, we will consider taking further action.”

Following the inspection, the CQC issued a warning notice to the practice with regard to safeguarding service users from abuse and improper treatment. St John’s must make improvements in relation to this by December 11.

A statement from the surgery, in London Road, said: “St John’s Medical Centre continues to be in ‘special measures’ by the Care Quality Commission (CQC), in its report issued 30.9.16. Being in special measures means that the CQC has found that some elements of the services we provide have not been to the expected standard.

“In our case, the failures relate to a number of systems and processes which have been rated as ‘inadequate’. These failures have either been resolved or are being addressed and we would like to apologise to our patients for any concern that may have been caused as a result.

“The CQC has rated the surgery as ‘good’ in relation to caring and responsive services and, with the support of our staff, South West Lincolnshire CCG and NHS England, we will continue to provide high quality care for our patients.”

To see the CQC report on St John’s surgery in full, go to www.cqc.org.uk