PATIENTS were being put at such risk that the Care Quality Commission (CQC) had to seek a court action to immediately shut down Woodrow Medical Centre.
Inspectors found numerous patients had not been told of new diagnoses, work labelled as completed was incomplete, the practice was three months behind with scanning – posing a risk to patients, and records were not kept up to date.
Not only that but a large number of prescriptions hadn’t been collected – some dating back to April 2017 – and no review of those patients had been carried out.
In addition the inspectors found that the practice only offered two emergency appointments a day, which meant patients were being turned away.
The alarm was raised by a whistleblower at the practice earlier this year and on March 14 inspectors from the CQC paid an unannounced visit to the medical centre.
What they found raised serious concerns over patient safety.
They returned the following day and asked the practice to submit an action plan on March 19 addressing those concerns.
When they returned on that date they found the reforms the practice said they’d completed hadn’t been actioned ‘putting patients at extreme risk’.
Such was the concern the inspectors made an application to Redditch Magistrates Court under Section 30 of The Health and Social Care Act 2008, one of the most severe enforcement powers available to the Commission.
This seeks the urgent cancellation of registration on the grounds of ‘there will be a serious risk to a person’s life, health or wellbeing’.
This was granted on March 21, 2018.
Other findings by the inspectors: The practice hadn’t carried out any audits in 12 months to improve patient treatments.
Children were not protected as there was not an effective system in place to highlight or identify safeguarding concerns.
There were numerous examples of misdiagnoses and inappropriate coding so patients were not being treated for conditions such as diabetes.
The staff were unsettleed too – at the time of the inspection there was just one receptionist and one secretary which meant administration tasks were not getting done. The practice manager had also resigned.
In total 11 members of staff had left in the previous nine months.
To see the report in full, visit https://www.cqc.org.uk/location/1-544614840
