Hastings medical practice placed in special measures

An ‘inadequate’ medical provider in Hastings has been placed in special measures after 78 per cent of patients needing a medication review had not received one.
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Churchwood Medical Practice, in Tilebarn Road, St Leonards, was found to be inadequate for its safety and leadership in a Care Quality Commission (CQC) report published on Friday, January 25.

Its effectiveness and responsiveness was found to ‘require improvement’ while it was given a ‘good’ rating for its level of care.

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The CQC report said: “At this inspection we found: pre-employment checks undertaken by the practice were not thorough, 78 per cent of patients had not received a medication review that required this, the practice overarching governance framework was not effective and did not support the practice to identify and act upon areas for improvement, the practice did not have a functioning patient participation group, the lack of leadership and oversight in the practice resulted in ineffective systems to identify and proactively manage risks and issues.”

Churchwood Medical Practice, in St Leonards, has been placed in special measuresChurchwood Medical Practice, in St Leonards, has been placed in special measures
Churchwood Medical Practice, in St Leonards, has been placed in special measures

Placing the medical practice into special measures, Professor Steve Field, the chief inspector of general practice, said Churchwood must make improvements as it was ‘in breach of regulations’.

He said Churchwood must ‘ensure care and treatment is provided in a safe way to patients as well as ensuring staff receive appropriate support, training, professional development, supervision and appraisal to carry out the duties they are employed to perform’.

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Professor Field added: “I am placing this service in special measures.

“Services placed in special measures will be inspected again within six months. If insufficient improvements have been made such that there remains a rating of inadequate for any population group, key question or overall, we will take action in line with our enforcement procedures to begin the process of preventing the provider from operating the service. This will lead to cancelling their registration or to varying the terms of their registration within six months if they do not improve.

“The service will be kept under review and if needed could be escalated to urgent enforcement action.”

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Churchwood Medical Practice offers general medical services to people in St Leonards and registers approximately 6,300 patients.

It is managed by a single GP and supported by two further GPs.

Churchwood Medical Practice has been approached for comment.