'Inadequate' Plymouth GP surgery in special measures

Surgery patients "experienced difficulties accessing care and treatment", said the report

A GP surgery has been put into special measures after inspectors found it was not providing safe care.

A Care Quality Commission (CQC) report rated the Stirling Road surgery run by Mayflower Medical Group (MMG) in Barne Barton, Plymouth as inadequate overall.

Among the failings, inspectors found patients "raised concerns about staff attitude" and "experienced difficulties accessing care and treatment".

MMG apologised and said it had "fallen short in a number of areas".

The surgery has been given six months to make improvements or face closure.

The practice was rated inadequate for safety, effectiveness, responsiveness and being well-led, and requires improvement in caring.

The care of seriously ill patients was not followed up "in a timely way" and there was "limited monitoring of the outcomes of care and treatment".

The report found "there were not effective processes to ensure staff remained qualified and competent for their role".

As well as not taking action to "protect patients from avoidable harm", the practice "did not have a system to learn and make improvements when things went wrong", said inspectors.

Neil Cox, the CQC's head of inspection for primary medical services, said it had "numerous concerns" the surgery "was not providing safe care and treatment to patients and monitoring them effectively".

MMG said in a statement: "We acknowledge we have fallen short in a number of areas and can only apologise for this.

"We have been working with the CQC and our commissioners to address the issues raised as a matter of urgency and plans are already in place to affect improvements."

NHS Devon Clinical Commissioning Group, which manages GP surgeries, said the CQC report was "disappointing" and it would support MMG in making changes.