02 August 2018
During a routine inspection
This practice is rated as Inadequate overall. (Previous rating February 2018 – Inadequate)
The key questions at this inspection are rated as:
Are services safe? – Good
Are services effective? – Inadequate
Are services caring? – Requires Improvement
Are services responsive? – Inadequate
Are services well-led? - Inadequate
During the announced comprehensive inspection carried out on 24 November 2017 the practice was rated as inadequate and was placed into special measures. The full comprehensive report on the November 2017 inspection can be found by selecting the ‘all reports’ link for Edridge Road Community Health Centre on our website at www.cqc.org.uk.
Following the period of special measures, we undertook an announced comprehensive inspection on 2 August 2018 to follow up on breaches of regulations that we identified in the previous inspection on 24 November 2017. The provider had made improvements since the last inspection and addressed some of the concerns identified in the last inspection; however, some of the concerns were not fully addressed and the practice remains rated as inadequate.
At this inspection we found:
- The practice had systems to manage risk so that safety incidents were less likely to happen. When incidents did happen, the practice learned from them and improved their processes.
- The practice reviewed the effectiveness and appropriateness of the care it provided. It ensured that care and treatment was delivered according to evidence- based guidelines; however, they still needed to improve care of patients with long-term conditions, improve identification of patients with cancer, uptake of childhood immunisations, uptake of cervical screening and undertake learning disability health checks.
- Staff involved and treated patients with compassion, kindness, dignity and respect.
- Patients found the appointment system easy to use; however, some of the patients reported difficulty in getting appointments.
- The results of the national GP patient survey indicated that patient satisfaction was generally below average.
- While there was a focus on learning and improvement at all levels of the organisation there were areas that needed improving such as patient experience and engagement of patients.
The areas where the provider must make improvements are:
- Ensure care and treatment of the service users met their needs.
The areas where the provider should make improvements are:
- Provide protected learning time for all staff.
- Consider ways to identify carers to ensure their needs are known and can be met.
This service was placed in special measures in 7 February 2018. Insufficient improvements have been made such that there remains a rating of inadequate for effective, responsive and well-led. The service will be kept under review and if needed could be escalated to urgent enforcement action. Where necessary, another inspection will be conducted within six months, and if there is not enough improvement we will move to close the service by adopting our proposal to vary the provider’s registration to remove this location or cancel the provider’s registration.
Professor Steve Field CBE FRCP FFPH FRCGPChief Inspector of General Practice
Please refer to the detailed report and the evidence tables for further information.