STAFF at Moredon Medical Centre worked under a “climate of fear” that prevented them from flagging concerns to practice leaders, the health regulator has said in a bombshell inspection report.

The Care Quality Commission accused the practice of failing its patients and painted a picture of “autocratic leaders” presiding over governance arrangements that were unclear and ineffective. There was a backlog of correspondence like hospital letters and patients on high-risk medicines were not always getting essential reviews and blood tests.

Ruth Rankine, deputy chief inspector of general practice CQC’s South region said: “Despite staff trying their best the practice was failing its patients and team.

"It is extremely concerning that the provider failed to notify CQC about the backlog of correspondence and other significant issues otherwise the Warning Notice would have remained in place and action would have been taken at that point to keep people safe."

The IMH-linked practice was rated Inadequate at the start of the year. It was registered with the CQC by the Better Health Partnership, the Swindon group name for IMH, in March 2019. In April, the CQC issued Moredon Medical Practice – whose name had been misspelled as Morden in registration documents – with enforcement action demanding improvements.

Now, in a damning report published today, the CQC has told of bullying, stress and high staff-turnover: “Staff we spoke with said they were subjected to bullying to achieve targets, and that the organisation was not taking adequate action to reduce this. When staff raised concerns, they told us they were not treated with respect.

“For example, some staff we spoke to, in confidence, talked about a 'climate of fear' that prevented them from raising concerns (about working conditions) to the leadership team.”

Inspectors added: “Staff we spoke with told us about low levels of work satisfaction, high levels of stress, a high turnover of staff, and work overload. Staff told us they did not feel respected, valued, supported or appreciated by practice leaders.

“Staff also told us that the impact of work pressures and a lack of understanding by practice leaders of the importance of culture, affected how they interacted with patients.

“Some staff told us in confidence that a top down, directive culture had a negative effect on their professionalism and manner, making them defensive and appearing to lack compassion with patients.”

Last week, the Advertiser revealed that all three GP partners at Moredon Medical Centre were planning to step down from their roles by mid-June. IMH, the Manchester-based firm overseeing five GP surgeries in Swindon including Moredon, last week announced it would be withdrawing from providing primary care in the town.

In their latest report, the CQC makes reference to issues faced by patients at Moredon in getting appointments. The practice’s own call log data showed waiting times had increased in March and April from around 15 to 27 minutes to a maximum wait on hold of around an hour.

Inspectors said: “Before this inspection, we received a significant and steady volume of complaints and concerns about the service from patients.

“This information focused on call waiting times, accessing appointments and problems with the Prescription Ordering Service….These complaints have still not been addressed with urgency.

“Patient complaints from other sources (such as NHS Choices, and Swindon Healthwatch) also highlighted the same level of concerns and issues.”

A spokesperson on behalf of Moredon Medical Centre said: “The health and wellbeing of the patients at all our medical sites has always been our top priority.

 “We are deeply disappointed by the findings of the CQC report. We sincerely apologise to our patients and colleagues and fully accept the impact our shortcomings may have had on them

“A comprehensive review of our procedures is underway, and we are already working closely with the CCG and CQC to improve the systems and services we offer. As part of this we have already recently implemented several measures, including a local leadership change, recruiting more GPs and introducing a new complaints system so we can effectively respond to patient and staff feedback. Since the inspection we have also reviewed and responded to 98% of the outstanding correspondence. 

“We are fully committed to improve the standard of care we provide and will continue to strive to do better for our patients and colleagues.”