London GP surgery had no defibrillator pads for kids and oxygen cylinders out of date

St Johns Wood Medical Practice in Westminster dropped from a rating of Good to Requires Improvement after a CQC inspection

A Westminster GP surgery has been told to shape-up and become safer, after an inspection found out-of-date equipment and missing medicines at the site.

St Johns Wood Medical Practice, which comes under the umbrella of the NHS North and West London Integrated Care Bord, serves around 24,432 people in the borough.

The practice’s overall rating dropped – from Good to Requires Improvement – following an assessment published by the Care Quality Commission on June 3 this year. Specifically, this was for the categories of ‘safe’ and ‘well-led’, while ‘effective’, ‘caring’ and ‘responsive’ were assessed as Good.

Out-of-date oxygen cylinders were also kept next to in-date cylinders, potentially causing confusion. Many of the items used to resuscitate someone in cardiac arrest were also missing or past their use-by dates.

The inspection found certain medicines, such as morphine and anti-sickness tablets (antiemetics) were not kept at the practice, although they did have diclofenac injection (another medication for treating pain). There were also no paediatric defibrillator pads for use in an emergency, which are used to help safely resuscitate a child.

“We found issues related to safeguarding, safe environments, clinical care, emergency medicines and emergency equipment. We found that some required items were not available for use in the event of a medical emergency and staff training was not up to date,” reads the inspection report section on safety.

Governance, management and sustainability at the practice was given the lowest possible score of one. Leaders weren’t able to show that regular audits of emergency equipment and medicines were carried out and there was no effective system to track staff training, the report said.

However, the practice “generally delivered services in line with good practice”. Complaints were found to be handled appropriately and interpreting services were offered to those who needed them.

“People were treated with kindness and compassion by the clinical staff. The dignity and privacy of patients were respected. Staff felt valued and appreciated. Staff wellbeing was treated with the utmost importance by the service,” said the inspection report.

‘We disagreed with some of the report’s findings’

A spokesperson for St Johns Wood Medical Practice said: “We were pleased that in our latest CQC visit, 3 out of the 5 domains were Good including good patient feedback. We were disappointed however that in 2 out of the 5 domains we were rated as ‘requires improvement’.

“We disagreed with some of the report’s findings and formally appealed, some of which were rejected by the CQC and so we will now be challenging their processes. We still believe that they have graded us incorrectly in certain areas.

“Nevertheless, we are now working at pace to implement changes based on the findings of their report and will continue to offer what we (and we hope our patients) think is a personal, highly accessible and excellent medical care to our registered patients.”

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