Most Manx GP surgeries fail to meet UK watchdog's standards

A plan to address the issues highlighted by the CQC is being worked up by Manx Care

The majority of GP surgeries on the Isle of Man failed to meet all of the standards set by a UK health watchdog.

The Care Quality Commission (CQC) found issues with safeguarding, support for long-term conditions, telephone practices and medicine storage.

Manx Care's director of nursing Paul Moore said the findings showed the risk to patient care was "relatively low".

But the health provider expected there to be "significant improvements" following the inspections, he added.

The CQC review, commissioned by the Department of Health and Social Care, found all but one of the 13 GP surgeries failed to meet all of its five standards.

These include assessments of whether patient care is safe, effective and responsive, and whether the practice is caring, and well-led.

Baseline

Although some good practices were highlighted, a lack of recruitment checks, inadequate cleaning, non-disposal of outdated medicines, and a lack of data sharing were common problems found.

Castletown Medical Centre was the only practice to meet all of the five standards, while Hailwood Medical Practice in Douglas performed the worst, meeting only two.

All practices were found to be caring, with staff treating patients with "kindness, respect and compassion".

The CQC will rate the GP surgeries, which are run as separate businesses, in the future, but the UK watchdog has no enforcement powers on the island.

Mr Moore said improvements had already been made, but an action plan was being put together by Manx Care to address issues across the GP network.

The CQC standards were "very challenging" and not easy to meet "on first pass", however it was expected improvements would now be made, he said.

Health Minister Lawrie Hooper said the surgeries were safe for patients, and the problems highlighted were largely "administrative".