NEEDS IMPROVEMENT: Droylsden Road Family Practice was failed by inspectors in five key areas and has to clean up its act
NEEDS IMPROVEMENT: Droylsden Road Family Practice was failed by inspectors in five key areas and has to clean up its act

A  GP surgery in Manchester has been thrown into special measures and ordered to clean up its act after the Care Quality Commission (CQC) rated it as ‘inadequate’.

Droylsden Road Family Practice was inspected by the health watchdog back in March.

The surgery, run by Dr A Haq and Dr S Khan, was failed by inspectors in five key areas. They said they didn’t feel the problems can be fixed without additional support.

A report by the CQC said the floor in the surgery was ‘visibly dirty’ and that inspectors had found an ‘extremely’ dirty treatment trolley in one room, which had a number of used drug items, such as injection equipment, anaesthetic cream and an implant package lying on it.

Dusty and out-of date notes were also discovered on windowsills and on top of filing cabinets, many of which were reportedly confidential.

Inspectors said it was not made clear to staff about reporting significant events and there was no evidence of staff communicating about these issues.

Patients were found to be at risk of harm and there was no clinical accountability or responsibility in the running of the practice.

Allegedly, a patient who had suffered a severe allergic reaction to a vaccination was given emergency treatment in the form of an injection, but there were no records detailing that this had ever took place.

Sue McMillan, deputy chief inspector of General Practice at the CQC, said: “Whilst some people spoke positively about the practice, we received comments that were a cause for concern particularly about access to appointments and patients having their concerns not being taken seriously during consultation.

“Action must be taken to address the wider concerns we identified so that patients receive safe, high-quality primary care.

“I do not believe that the practice is likely to resolve its challenges without external support. This is why we are placing the practice into special measures.”

The surgery will be re-inspected again in six months to check whether sufficient improvements have been made.

If the service remains inadequate, the CQC will consider taking steps to cancel its registration. The contract for the surgery is held by NHS England.

Dr Martin Whiting, chief clinical officer for the North Manchester Clinical Commissioning Group, said: “We would like to reassure patients that we took prompt action with our NHS England colleagues so that there are robust plans in place to ensure continuity of care and services for everyone who uses the practice.

“The situation is a temporary measure so that the practice can address system and organisational issues by the end of June 2016.

“In the meantime, we remain resolute about putting patients first and upholding quality standards that match our vision for health care in north Manchester.”

Asian Express contacted the manager of the surgery for comment and are awaiting a response.