Lakeside Stamford CQC inspection finds practice still requires improvement
A GP surgery still ‘requires improvement’ following an inspection - three years after it first received a negative rating.
Lakeside Healthcare Stamford was visited on January 31 by a Care Quality Commission (CQC) inspector in response to concerns about how effective services at the practice are, and how well led the services are.
Both of these areas were rated ‘good’ at a previous inspection of the practice in November 2022 but because its services were also deemed not safe enough, not caring enough, or responsive to people’s needs, the overall rating given at that point was ‘requires improvement’. The inspection found this has not changed.
The CQC’s inspection dates and ratings for Lakeside Stamford are as follows:
January 2024 - Requires Improvement
November 2022 - Requires Improvement
March 2022 - Requires Improvement
September 2021 - Inadequate
June 2021 - Inadequate
November 2018 - Good
The latest report, published on Monday (April 22) said: “We reviewed some clinical records, which identified that the clinical supervision arrangements in place were not fully effective in providing assurance of ongoing competence of all clinical staff.
“However, there was easy access to a duty doctor for clinical staff to seek support when required on a daily basis.
“We also saw the practice had introduced ‘competency passports’ for some of the nursing team. These identified individual skills and competence when a staff member started employment with the practice, and we were told they would be reviewed annually.”
The inspector was told that the practice was also updating and strengthening its clinical supervision policy and framework.
The report continued: “Our inspection identified that the current system for clinical supervision was not fully effective as there was a lack of formal clinical supervision and therefore limited oversight of competencies of some clinical staff and missed opportunities to identify training needs.”
On behalf of the Stamford partners, Dr Gavin Cattigan, GP partner and non-executive director, said: “The Stamford surgery has made significant changes over the last 18 months, providing more appointments, and recruiting more doctors.
“The CQC visited us in January for a focused visit in one area and not to review our overall rating.
“We work closely with CQC and have already made the recommended changes to our supervision policy.
“We are continuing our improvement programme and recruitment drive and we will continue to work closely with our patient group here in Stamford.”
Lakeside Stamford was created in 2017 following the merger of three town practices: St Mary’s Medical Centre in Wharf Road, Sheepmarket Surgery in Ryhall Road, and the now-closed Little Surgery in St Mary’s Street.
The practice operates in a area of low deprivation, according to Public Health England, and the average life expectancy for Stamford is 82 years for men compared with a national average of 79, and 85 years for women compared with a national average of 83.
Lakeside Stamford has 15 GPs comprised of five partners, seven salaried, and three long-term locums.
At the time of the inspection there were 14 receptionists and a ‘team leader’, with three vacancies for reception positions.
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