GP practice with 3,000+ patients put in special measures after inspectors found 'widespread' issues

The Care Quality Commission (CQC) has rated Primary Care Centre, in West Bromwich, inadequate following an inspection in August.

Primary Care Centre, also known as Dr Haque's Practice, and run by Dr N U Haque & Partners, delivers general medical services to around 3,100 people.

Inspectors said they were concerned that people on high-risk medicines or those with long-term conditions weren’t monitored or reviewed regularly which "placed them at risk of harm".

A report outlining the inspection's findings, published today, said the practice was unable to demonstrate effective supervision of staff carrying out their roles to ensure they were acting within their competencies.

Safeguarding registers weren’t accurate, meaning there was no way for staff to assure themselves they had clinical oversight of where the risks were, it added.

The practice was unable to demonstrate it complied with the relevant safety alerts issued by the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) and clinical coding was not being monitored to ensure people’s records were accurate and provided the appropriate information to staff.

However, it was noted that appropriate standards of cleanliness and hygiene were met; partners and staff were trained to appropriate levels for their role and receptionists were aware of actions to take if they encountered a deteriorating person at the practice.

Following the inspection, the overall rating for the practice, as well as the areas of safe, effective, caring, and well-led, was 'inadequate'.

It was rated 'requires improvement' for how responsive the service is to people's needs.

The service will be kept under close review and re-inspected to check for significant improvements.

Andy Brand, CQC deputy director of operations in the Midlands, said: “When we inspected Primary Care Centre, we found a GP practice that wasn’t performing to the required standards to ensure people were getting the service and treatment they deserve.

“We identified widespread shortfalls across the service including the assessment of risk, management of medicines, safeguarding and governance.

“It was concerning that people on high-risk medicines or those with long-term conditions weren’t monitored or reviewed regularly which placed them at risk of harm. We saw alerts on people’s records to inform the clinical team that a review was required, however these hadn’t been actioned.

“The practice had an ineffective communication system meaning the outcome of any incidents hadn’t been shared with the practice team to mitigate future risk and learn from any errors.

“In addition, all providers must handle complaints efficiently and investigate them properly.

"On reviewing the complaints received we found complainants had not been treated with respect and courtesy which is unacceptable.

“We will continue to monitor the service closely to ensure significant improvements are made.

"If we are not assured people are receiving safe care, we will not hesitate to take further enforcement action to ensure people are receiving the high standard of care they deserve.”

The GP practice was contacted and declined to comment.