Luton GP surgery was dirty and patients were not safe - inspectors

Wenlock Surgery in the High Town area of Luton had 3,600 patients on its register

A GP surgery that closed last year was "dirty" and its patients were not safe from abuse, inspectors have said.

Wenlock Surgery in the High Town area of Luton shut in July leaving 3,600 patients looking for a new GP.

In a report published this week, the Care Quality Commission (CQC) said it stored medicine and equipment that went out of date as long ago as 2012.

The NHS Bedfordshire, Luton and Milton Keynes Integrated Care Board (ICB) said it welcomed the report.

Dr Isam Saleh resigned in June following the CQC inspection

Gill Hodgson-Reilly, CQC deputy director of operations in the east of England, said: "We were disappointed to find leaders lacked oversight of many issues impacting people's safety and quality of care, and weren't acting to improve the service.

"The practice was visibly dirty; for example, inspectors found a dirty used instrument on the floor of a clinic room."

Dr Isam Saleh, the only registered GP at the practice, resigned following the CQC inspection in June last year. The BBC approached Dr Saleh for comment.

'Foul smelling'

The overall rating for the practice dropped from good to inadequate.

The report said there was a "dirty, used instrument on the floor in a clinical room" and "clinical waste" being stored on racks in the staff toilet antechamber.

It explained: "These bags were extremely foul smelling and staff had to pass through this room to access toilet facilities."

Inspectors found "significantly out of date" medicines including lubricating gel that expired in 2019 and multiple blood glucose monitoring sets which expired in January 2012.

The report criticised the lack of an effective system to ensure staff completed required training and staff complained of having to cancel annual leave because of gaps in the rota.

In December 2016, the surgery was rated good overall in a report by the CQC

The CQC said it would take further regulatory action and would report on this "when legally able to do so".

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A spokesperson for the local ICB pointed out its team raised concerns with the CQC ahead of the inspection in June.

"Patient safety is paramount to us. On receiving notification from the CQC, the ICB's immediate focus was to work quickly to transfer all patients to other local practices," they added.