NHS Failures: Leeds GP Surgery placed into special measures

A GP surgery in Leeds has been placed into special measures after a routine inspection found several concerns putting patients at risk.

Manston Surgery in Cross Gates, which provides services to 8,220 patients was rated inadequate after the Care Quality Commission (CQC) inspected the facility in January.

The inspection found a catalogue of errors, relating to both patient and staff wellbeing. Some of the issues included a failure to implement infection prevention and control (IPC) policy and no health and safety risk assessments on-site.

Sheila Grant, CQC deputy director of operations in the north, said:

“When we inspected Manston Surgery, it was concerning to see a lack of strong leadership displayed by the provider which had created a culture that didn’t support staff to provide high-quality care and treatment to the 8,220 people using the service.

“When we spoke to leaders, they told us a change within the management team and turnover of experienced staff over the last few years had impacted their ability to provide good care.

“We found they had relied solely on recruitment into these roles to solve the issues, instead of also focusing on covering the gaps they had left while recruiting. Staff told us managers weren’t approachable and that they didn’t feel supported to do their jobs.”

Issues were also raised as there was no evidence of reference checks for staff during the recruitment process and training was not up to date for several workers.

The inspection also found that staff vaccinations were not maintained in line with current UK Health and Security Agency (UKHSA) guidance and evidence of qualifications was not held for all staff.

Ms. Grant added:

“We found that not all staff had the skills, knowledge and experience to carry out their roles. We saw that many members of staff weren’t up to date with training and a lot of training that had been completed, was only carried out after the inspection had been announced.” 

This inspection was carried out as part of CQC’s continual checks on the safety and quality of healthcare services.

The service has since been placed in special measures, which means it will be kept under close review by CQC to keep people safe whilst it makes the rapid and widespread improvements CQC expects to see. If CQC doesn’t see these improvements, further action will be taken.

Inspectors found:

• The practice did not have effective systems and processes in place to demonstrate good management
• The culture of the practice did not enable staff to raise concerns
• The practice did not always carry out all the relevant recruitment checks, including Disclosure and Barring Service (DBS) checks
• Staff vaccination was not maintained in line with current UK Health and Security Agency (UKHSA) guidance
• Significant events and associated learning were not shared effectively with the wider team.

Further reading

GP negligence claims – Oakwood Solicitors

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