GP surgery suspended over serious safety breaches

A Birmingham GP practice has been barred from accepting new patient registrations for six months after inspectors uncovered serious safety breaches.

Naseby Medical Centre, based in Saltley and caring for more than 5,500 patients, has been rated "Inadequate" by the Care Quality Commission (CQC).

The CQC said inspectors were concerned about unsafe care, including poor medicines management, inadequate monitoring of high-risk drugs, and weak safeguarding processes.

The NHS Birmingham and Solihull and NHS Black Country said it was working closely with the practice to ensure patients continue to access vital services and improvements are put in place quickly.

The care watchdog, which released a report on the inspection on Wednesday, said it had suspended the registration of the practice for six months to "keep people safe".

It has placed the practice in special measures, warning that failure to improve could lead to permanent closure.

During the visit, between 25 July and 7 August, inspectors found staff were not regularly reviewing people's diabetes which could result in them developing serious, life-changing complications if their needs had changed.

Records were found to have out-of-date and inaccurate information and staff did not deliver care based on the latest evidence and good practice, the care watchdog said.

The practice was found to not work with out-of-hours services to follow up on people who had needed support.

Evidence was provided about a person who had called an ambulance for a suspected stroke but refused to attend hospital. Although the GP said they had followed this up, the next entry in the person's record was for a different condition with no reference to possible stroke symptoms.

Records also revealed two patients with asthma had been prescribed a medication for anxiety that made their asthma inhaler ineffective.

Inspectors said the practice lacked robust governance systems, and leaders were criticised for failing to understand and manage risk.

CQC has downgraded the ratings for how safe and effective the service is from "requires improvement" to "inadequate". How caring and responsive the service is has been downgraded from "good" to "requires improvement", and how well-led the service is has been downgraded from "good" to "inadequate".

While staff were generally respectful and new facilities were being developed, the CQC warned that the culture at the surgery was "closed and inward-facing".

Andy Brand, CQC deputy director of primary and community care in the Midlands, said: "We took steps to suspend Naseby Medical Centre's registration due to our concern about the quality of care the practice was delivering.

"Leaders need to make urgent improvements following this and we will consider further regulatory action if appropriate."

The NHS Birmingham and Solihull and NHS Black Country added: "Caretaking arrangements through an experienced team of clinical and non-clinical staff from another healthcare provider will remain in place at the Practice until at least February when the CQC will review the initial suspension.

"Patients registered at Naseby Medical Practice should continue to access services as normal."

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