One in six GP surgeries face urgent inspection by regulators after being judged at high risk of breaching care standards. Over 1,000 surgeries are feared to be failing patients.
Steve Field, Chief Inspector of GP’s has said that some surgeries had a shortage of appointments, too few blood-pressure checks, over-prescription of antibiotics and out of date vaccines. In some of the worst practices there was a lack of care and empathy towards patients and rude staff.
However, doctor’s leaders have criticised the risk bands system introduced by the Care Quality Commission as misleading and simplistic. Whilst the bands are not yet a judge of quality of GP’s it is believed that high-risk practices are more likely to be failing. All high risk practices will be targeted for inspection in the first six months of 2015.
Eventually all surgeries will receive a formal quality rating (from outstanding to inadequate). The idea is that this will help patients make informed choices about their GP surgeries.
Professor Field said, “The characteristics of a poor practice are poor access [and] people are rude to them. It could well be that they are not caring or empathetic to patients. We don’t have intensive care units and most care is not invasive, but you have a list of 1,800 patients per GP, so if your vaccines are out of date you could be putting children and their children at risk of preventable diseases. If you don’t follow up-to-date guidance on heart disease or diabetes you are putting people at risk.”
Whilst Professor Field was reassured that 5 out of 6 practices did not raise many concerns he warned against complacency from surgeries. He also pointed out that many of the surgeries which were categorised as high risk were “isolated surgeries” which did not share data with others. He argues that this is a reason for data sharing in the NHS as this will help to provide better treatment for patients.
Richard Vautrey, deputy Chairman of the British Medical Association’s GP committee said, “Publishing data with no context about a GP practice before inspectors have even arrived will at best confuse patients and as worst mislead them. It will not give an accurate picture of how GP services are operating. This system will add still further to the micromanaging of GP’s that is already getting in the way of treating patients. The CQC must revisit these proposals if it is to gain the confidence of GPs and patients.”
Katherine Murphy, Chief Executive of the Patients’ Association said, “We often hear about the difficulties people have trying to get an appointment with their GP. We hope that CQC’s work in highlighting this will act as a catalyst and there will be positive changes.”
Patrick Oliver, Senior Associate and Head of Clinical Negligence at Swain & Co Solicitors LLP says, “I think it is important for patients to be able to find out information about their GP practice so they can make informed choices about their treatment. At the end of the day anything which leads to improved patient safety and satisfaction can only be a good thing.”