GP Practice Suspended by CQC

A Haringey GP practice was suspended for six months by the Care Quality Commission following an inspection in May 2018 which highlighted significant concerns about patient care.

The practice was rated Inadequate in all areas.

Patients are still able to receive care at The Staunton Group Practice in Wood Green, north London because it is currently being run by another provider. This will continue until October 2018, when it will be decided if the suspension can be lifted and the original provider can return.

At the inspection, the original provider was found not to have effective systems in place for the management of:

• risks to patients and staff with regards to safeguarding practices.
• high-risk prescribing - medicines reviews for patients on high-risk medicines were not being carried out.
• blank prescription forms and pads.
• Infection prevention and control practices.
• Emergency drugs and equipment - which were stored in unlocked rooms, accessible to patients and visitors.

In addition records of over 600 patients who were previously registered at other practices had not been consolidated with their records at the practice, meaning their medical histories were incomplete.

The practice had not planned its services to meet the needs of the practice population. Patients continued to find telephone access difficult. Routine appointments were not available for three-to-four weeks.

In order to be able to have the suspension lifted the provider must now:

• Ensure care and treatment is provided in a safe way to patients.
• Establish effective systems and processes to ensure good governance in accordance with the fundamental standards of care. 

Professor Ursula Gallagher, CQC Deputy Chief Inspector of GP Practices, said “It is a matter of extreme concern when a practice falls below a certain standard of care - and the care we found The Staunton Group Practice was so concerning that we had no choice but to prevent them working.

“Presently patients are being cared for by a new leadership regime and we will need to see vast improvements at the practice before we will consider lifting the suspension.”