Improvements still needed at Derby's Osmaston Surgery to ensure patients are safe
A Derby GP surgery has been removed from special measures but been told improvements are still needed to ensure patients are safe.
Last year Care Quality Commission (CQC) inspectors threatened Osmaston Surgery with closure and rated the practice “inadequate” following a damning report about the care it provided – stating it was unable to keep people safe.
Alarmed inspectors listed several major faults with the Osmaston Road surgery and therefore placed it under special measures – triggering an apology from the management.
But now following a re-inspection in September, inspectors have seen enough improvement to remove the surgery from special-measures status. However, they said improvements are still needed.
According to the CQC, the surgery has around 13,000 patients on its books. A number of patients told inspectors two months ago their needs or concerns were listened to but others said “they were not and that staff were dismissive”.
In August 2023 it was reported how inspectors found the practice “did not ensure care and treatment was provided in a safe way to patients” and “the service was not provided in a way to care and respond to patients’ needs”.
Following the report the management of the practice, which had taken over the site in May 2023, said a new improvement plan was underway, aiming to “reinvent and revitalise Osmaston Surgery”.
And inspectors have now seen improvements. A new report says they found “there were now systems in place to support learning from incidents” and “safeguarding, teams and services worked together to provide continuity of care”. There have also been some improvements in the management of medicines.
But it was revealed breaches in patient care were noticed which needed to be addressed. The report states: “There continued to be issues regarding the management of patients with asthma, the management of patients prescribed medicines that required monitoring and medicine reviews were not always up to date.
“There continued to be limited clinical audit activity; gaps in staff training; a lack of systems to track prescription stationery throughout the practice; cervical screening and childhood immunisations continued to be below national targets. There was limited engagement with patients or staff to seek their views.”
The practice is now rated “requires improvement” overall. It has been rated good in key criteria including “effective” and “caring”, but “requires improvement” in other aspects such as “safe”, “responsive” and “well-led”.
The report says: “We are taking this service out of special measures. This recognises the improvements that have been made to the quality of care provided by this service. We have asked the provider for an action plan in response to the two breaches of regulation we found at this assessment.”
The Local Democracy Reporting Service has approached the management of Osmaston Surgery for comment. Last year Osmaston Surgery said: “Please be assured that our whole team of GPs, advanced care practitioners, paramedics, nurses, pharmacists, auxiliary care staff, administration and reception teams are working tirelessly to maintain clinical services and patient safety to keep our surgery open and to ensure our patients are receiving a high standard of care.”