Moredon Medical Centre and Abbey Meads Surgery rated Requires Improvement by CQC

New reports relate to Care Quality Commission inspectors’ visits to Moredon Medical Centre and Abbey Meads Surgery in May.

Both are still rated Requires Improvement by the health watchdog.

Moredon has the most work to do, with three of the five categories – safe, effective, well-led – requiring improvement, while Abbey Meads needs to improve the safety and leadership of its services.

Both surgeries had similar problems with safeguarding, patient care, and good governance.

The CQC found issues with staff not always completing safeguarding training or having the right authorisation to administer medicines, information in patient records not always helping them receive the right care and treatment, and overall governance systems being ineffective.

Missed safety alerts had not been reviewed, processes did not ensure patient records were consistently accurate and up to date, and the practices did not involve the public, staff or health partners enough to help keep their services high quality.

Moredon ,Medical Centre. Picture: DAVE COX

Moredon, specifically, tended to struggle with following up on patients who had long-term conditions after their treatments changed, and not enough patients eligible for cervical cancer screenings were being screened.

In addition, it could not always show how medics identified patients with commonly-undiagnosed conditions like diabetes, COPD, atrial fibrillation and hypertension.

Abbey Meads Surgery. Picture: DAVE COX

Meanwhile, Abbey Meads’ fire safety training was found to be lacking, emergency medicines were not securely stored, and staff did not always have the information they needed to deliver safe care and treatment.

There were no systems in place to monitor if patients had attended the appointments required to diagnose their health issues.

But it wasn’t all bad news. CQC inspectors praised Abbey Meads Surgery’s Caring, Effective and Responsive service categories, which are rated as Good.

The report reads: “Patient’s needs, care and treatment was delivered in line with current legislation and standards.

“The practice had a comprehensive programme of quality improvement activity and routinely reviewed the effectiveness and appropriateness of the care provided.

“Staff were consistent and proactive in helping patients to live healthier lives.”

Moredon Medical Centre. Picture: DAVE COX

Moredon Medical Centre’s inspection focused entirely on areas needing improvement, but its Caring and Responsive categories are still Good.

To get a Good rating overall, both practices need to provide care and treatment in a safer way, establish better governance for training and overseeing staff, and make it easier for patients to provide feedback.

Moredon needs to get better at following up with patients who have long-term conditions, and increasing the uptake of cervical cancer screenings for those who can have them.

Both practices have been managed by Great Western Hospital since 2019.

Abbey Meads Surgery. Picture: DAVE COX

A spokesman for GWH Foundations Trust told the Adver: “We are pleased that our GP services have been recognised for being caring and responsive to the needs of local people, with the Care Quality Commission (CQC) rating these important measures as ‘good’.

“Despite no change in our overall rating, we are incredibly proud of the progress we have made since we began our improvement journey in 2019.

“We have focused on the things we know matter most to patients, reducing call waiting times, increasing appointment availability, and recruiting more GPs.

“The introduction of a new online system called e-Consult is also making it easier for patients to access services.

“Alongside these improvements our practice staff have shown great dedication, compassion, and professionalism through the challenges of the pandemic.

“Although there is still a way to go, we are moving in the right direction and addressing the further improvements needed, with a particular focus on governance systems and processes.

“Thank you to our incredible practice staff whose effort and commitment does not go unnoticed.”