A West Cumbrian GP surgery has been criticised by its health watchdog and told it must improve.
Castlegate and Derwent Surgery, on Isel Road in Cockermouth, was inspected by the Care Quality Commission following concerns reported to it about the medical practice.
The commission carried out a three-day inspection in April, and while it said it was effective and caring, overall it needed to improve. It also found breaches of regulations.
The watchdog found:
- The practice did not currently offer patients NHS electronic prescribing or repeat dispensing services, which had caused issues for patients – inspectors spoke to nine patients and six reported problems
- There was not a thorough system in place to assure the competencies of non-medical prescribers
- It had systems or processes in place that operated ineffectively so failed to be able to assess, monitor and improve quality and safety of services
- Significant gaps in staff training, for example safeguarding, infection prevention and control, information governance
- Staff knew how to report significant events and deal with complaints, but inspectors cold not be assured that learning was always achieved
However, they did say that patients could access care and treatment in a ‘timely’ way and they were treated with kindness and respect.
The report added: “Recently senior leaders at the practice had changed and the new leadership team were making progress with the running of the practice.
“After the inspection the provider wrote to us and shared with us a list of improvement activities that had been initiated and shared with all staff.”
The watchdog said the surgery should revisit its decisions about electronic prescribing and explore the support available for repeat dispensing, to provide a more efficient service. Currently, patients are told prescriptions are ready to collect after 72 hours.
Castlegate & Derwent Surgery has a a team of seven GP partners and six salaried GPs work at the practice. It has four advanced nurse practitioners and six practice nurses, supported by a team of treatment nurses, healthcare assistants and GP assistants.
There is an operations manager, administration lead and admin and reception staff. At the time of the inspection, no practice manager was in place and that role was being undertaken by a partner alongside the operations manager.
The practice is part of a wider network of GP practices known as Cockermouth and Maryport PCN. Cockermouth and Maryport PCN is made up of two GP practices.
