Patients examined by untrained nurses at Sedgley medical practice
A medical centre allowed women’s examinations to be carried out by untrained nurses, leading to a risk of diagnoses being missed or delayed, an inspection has revealed.
Bath Street Medical Centre in Sedgley has been rated as ‘inadequate’ following an inspection by the Care Quality Commission, which said safety was at risk.
The regulator revealed women who were not comfortable being assessed by the male GP were instead seen by female nurses who were not trained to do so.
Paul Maubach, chief executive of Dudley CCG which runs the site, said: “We will work with the practice to ensure immediate action is taken to address the concerns raised.”
Inspectors from the health watchdog gave the medical practice the lowest rating of inadequate for the categories of ‘safety’ and ‘leadership’.
Meanwhile, Inspectors found the centre ‘required improvement’ –, which is the second lowest rating, for the three categories asking if the centre was effectiveness, carecaring and being responsive.
This led to the centre being ranked as ‘inadequate’ overall.
An inspector said using nurses not trained to carry out gynaecology examinations and breast examinations posed the risk of women receiving false reassurance leading to delayed or missed diagnoses: “During our inspection the principal GP explained that female patients who declined to be examined by the male GP were instead referred to the practice nurses to carry out gynaecology examinations and breast examinations.
“We raised this as a concern during our inspection as the practice nurses were not trained in these areas and this posed the risk of women receiving false reassurance leading to delayed or missed diagnoses.
“Staff we spoke with said that whilst they felt supported, sometimes they felt pressured due to busy workloads. Members of the management team advised that the planned recruitment of a non-clinical staff member and additional clinical hours should help to ease the pressure on staff.”
In November 2015, the centre was placed into special measures after a CQC inspection.
A follow-up inspection took place in July 2016 after a new provider had been in brought, and inspectors rated the practice as ‘requiring improvement’. The latest inspection was carried out on June 7 to see if improvements had been made.
Mr Paul Maubach, Chief Executive Officer, Dudley CCG added: “Whilst we are of course concerned with the CQC’s report findings, we are working with Bath Street and the CQC inspectors to understand the findings in full.
“We welcome the report as an opportunity for the practice to learn, rectify issues and improve services for their patients. Additional support will also be given to the practice over the next six months so that we can be sure that improvements are made for the benefit of their patients.”
Sabina Begum, deputy manager at Bath Street Medical Centre, said: “The quality and standard of care that we provide to patients is of great importance to us. In response to the inspection we took immediate action to address the inspector’s concerns. We are disappointed with the report’s overall finding and we are disputing the accuracy of the report.”
If any of our patients have any concerns they should contact the practice where we will be happy to discuss these.”
