GP practice suffers critical CQC report

Three of the Sleaford Medical Group Partners Dr Gaspar Da Silva, Dr Vindi Bhandal and Dr Elton Pardoe. EMN-190810-113940001

Partners at Sleaford Medical Group say they are “extremely disappointed” after previously being rated ‘Good’ having battled back from a previous unfavourable rating.

CQC inspectors arrived at the surgery off Boston Road on August 8 and considered that Sleaford Medical Group is not performing as well as it should be, outlining areas where they must improve.

The practice required improvement in four of the five key areas of inspection: whether services were safe, effective, well-led and responsive to people’s needs. They were said to be ‘good’ in terms of staff being caring towards patients.

Management of patients’ test results was limited and not always actioned in a timely manner, while there was no risk assessment for emergency medicines that were missing from the trolley - staff took immediate action to resolve this, said the report.

Patient care and treatment was not always routinely monitored and staff did not always work together to monitor and deliver effective care and treatment.

Patients said they were unable to access urgent appointments when needed and appointments could run up to an hour late.

A spokesman for the practice said: “We are working very hard to address the CQC’s findings and rating, and are confident the steps we have taken recently to address the CQC’s feedback will benefit the practice, and our rating, in the future.

“In particular, the practice has over the last two years relied heavily on locum GPs due to difficulty recruiting and retaining on a permanent basis. We have addressed this by adding two permanent salaried GP partners to our team, both of whom were previously trainees at Sleaford Medical Group, which will help strengthen the services we offer and provide continuity for our patients going forward.

“We have also taken steps to review and strengthen our management structure, and ensure that every one of our employees is fully supported in their work.”

They apologised to patients for any concern caused, and reassured them that they remain committed to providing high quality care.