Spalding surgery still needs to improve

A Spalding GP surgery still has to improve after it continues to be rated inadequate by government inspectors.

Pennygate Health Centre and lead GP Dr Azmeena Nathu, has 3,460 patients and was inspected in April.

The Care Quality Commission inspection came six months after a report rated it inadequate and it was put in special measures with a list of required improvements.

But when the latest report was published last month, many had yet to be implemented. Of six key areas, three were inadequate in the latest report (the lowest rating) and three required improvement (the next step.)

Services for older people, those with long-term conditions, families, children and young people, working age people, vulnerable and those with poor mental health were all rated as inadequate.

Areas rated as requiring improvement included the categories effective, caring and responsive.

Following the October report, the surgery was told to comply with notices by January 12 this year.

Unannounced inspections were conducted on April 19 and 25 and “not all the requirements of the warning notice had been met.”

“The CQC has written to the lead GP and asked for further information on how they will meet these requirements,” the report says.

During the October inspection it was found there was no system in place to safeguard service users.

“We reviewed the safeguarding process. We were still unable to establish if there was an effective system in place,” says the latest report.

Patient record keeping for medicine review also came under the spotlight.

“We found in some patient records that the documentation had been completed or changed late at night. One record we looked at we found the wrong allergy had been added,” said the report.

The practice has a raft of improvements to make, including introducing an effective system to manage patients on high-risk drugs.

Safeguarding also needs improving, along with leadership.

The practice had taken steps to improve infection control, staff training, fire safety, dispensary monitoring, and appliance testing.

The South Lincolnshire Care Commissioning Group was unable to provide a comment at the time of going to press.