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Single practice GPs in the firing line, after CQC inspections (1 October 2014)

Date: 01/10/2014
Duncan Lewis, Personal Injury Solicitors, Single practice GPs in the firing line, after CQC inspections

More than 200 GP practices across England could be facing closure, according to a report by Sky News.

The news coincides with a Tory pledge that if the Conservatives win the next election, GP practices will open seven days a week – as well as in the evenings – to accommodate the UK’s “24/7 society”.

Doctors’ leaders have called into question how additional GPs will be recruited to cover the proposed GP opening hours – and in his first interview, the Chief Inspector of GPs for the Care Quality Commission (CQC), Professor Steve Field, has told Sky News that GP practices found guilty of serious failings in care would be closed.

As a result, a handful of failing GP surgeries could be closed immediately.

Prof Field said that the CQC’s preliminary inspection of 8,000 GP practices in England suggests that 200 GP surgeries are failing, with the most serious failings occurring in sole practice GP surgeries, where a single GP is based.

Some of the issues CQC inspectors have found during preliminary inspections include late referrals for suspected cancer patients – which could have a fatal outcome for the patient; as well as unmodernised and unhygienic GP premises, chaotic management and staff shortages, patients being prescribed the wrong medications, the over-prescribing of antibiotics to patients – and child vaccines not being stored in refrigerators, potentially putting children’s health at risk.

Prof Field also said that the “writing was on the wall” for sole GP practices as a result of the findings of the CQC inspections. He said that, in many instances, the issues had been known about “for years”, but the authorities had failed to act.

The issue of single GP practices was first flagged up under New Labour, which made reform of primary care the cornerstone of its NHS policy.

Over the years, large super-surgeries have also been introduced to serve communities, offering a wide range of healthcare services, including minor surgical procedures in some GP surgeries.

However, Prof Field said that at the start of the CQC’s GP inspections, around one-third of GP practices were found to be struggling to achieve basic standards of care required, but this had since dropped to below 20% of practices.

Around 2% of GP practices are thought to be failing as a result of large variations in the standard of care they offer, however.

Around 160 of the 200 GP surgeries in England found to be failing would receive extra support from the NHS to help them improve – but Prof Field added that he would go ahead and close practices which were among the worst performing, even if MPs protested at the closure of their local GP surgery.

Single GP practices are often situated in rural areas or low-income areas, which might potentially leave a community without a doctor’s surgery.

However, Prof Field said that in some cases it had been known they had been failing for years:

“Unfortunately there are some ... which have gone on for years failing and people haven't drawn a line and said enough is enough. For those we will take urgent action.

“General practice is the jewel in our crown and we're undermined by a small percentage of GPs who are not providing the care our patients deserve,” Prof Field added.

Chair of the BMA’s General Practice Committee Dr Chaand Nagpaul said that GPs should not be blamed for some perceived failings in the care they strive to give patients, however:

“We know that a lot of GPs are working in an environment that is extremely difficult and challenging, in premises that are not fit for purpose.

“And yet they cannot find another place to work in because there are no funds to relocate them.

“It would not be right to criticise or blame them for factors outside their control,” Dr Nagpaul added.

Duncan Lewis Personal Injury Solicitors – GP Negligence Claims

Duncan Lewis personal injury solicitors are able to advise NHS patients who have sustained injury as a result of medical negligence on how to make no win no fee GP Negligence Claims or Fatal Injury Claims, including compensation claims for:

• Delays in diagnosis or failure to diagnose
• Misdiagnosis
• Prescription errors
• Referral delays
• Wrong medical treatment.

For expert legal advice on no win no fee GP Negligence Claims, contact Duncan Lewis personal injury solicitors on 020 7923 4020.


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