One in three GP surgeries in England is failing to meet basic standards, the Care Quality Commission (CQC) has found.
More than 900 practices across the country were inspected, 80% of which were chosen because of pre-existing concerns. The others were selected at random.
The inspectors found a third of GP surgeries were failing to meet basic standards, citing examples of poor cleanliness, “visibly dirty” practices and substandard management of medicines.
Talking of the way medicines were managed, the CQC said there were problems across the board, with examples of emergency drugs being out of date and vaccines not kept in regulated fridges.
Hygiene was another common theme, with maggots found at two surgeries. The CQC added that in nine cases, the failings were so serious they could “potentially affect thousands of people.”
“Inexcusable”
The review was part of a trial-run by the CQC, which is preparing for the launch of its nationwide GP inspection scheme in April next year.
All 8,000 GP practices will be inspected over the next two years and given a rating of outstanding, good, requires improvement and inadequate. The same process is being carried out in hospitals.
The independent inspection is the first of its kind in the UK. Until now GPs have only faced local audits, meaning failing practices have remained unchallenged, even if the problems were known about locally.
Professor Steve Field, the CQC’s new chief inspector of GPs, said: “Of the really poor practices we’re talking nine or 10 out of 900, so very tiny numbers. But, if you have a problem with, for example, the storage of vaccinations for children, the impact could be on hundreds of patients. So the numbers are small, but the impact is large.”
Roger Goss, from the campaign group Patient Concern, said: “The failings are inexcusable. The standards the CQC wants met are the basic minimum for protecting a patients’ safety, let alone improving their health.”
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