August 2, 2016 9.52 am This story is over 91 months old

‘Good’ Lincoln GP surgery requires improvement in keeping patients safe

A Lincoln GP surgery has been praised for its overall effectiveness despite not fully assessing and managing risks to patients. Inspectors from the Care Quality Commission visited the Abbey Medical Practice on Monks Road at the end of May, rating the service it provides as ‘good’. The report, published on August 1, commended the practice’s…
Abbey Medical Practice on Monks Road. Photo: Google Street View

A Lincoln GP surgery has been praised for its overall effectiveness despite not fully assessing and managing risks to patients.

Inspectors from the Care Quality Commission visited the Abbey Medical Practice on Monks Road at the end of May, rating the service it provides as ‘good’.

The report, published on August 1, commended the practice’s leadership, responsiveness, effectiveness and caring nature towards the 5,500 patients it serves.

Particular praise was reserved for the cleanliness and tidiness of the surgery, and patients said that they were treated with compassion, dignity and respect.

However, inspectors rated the safety of the services as ‘requires improvement’.

Inspectors said that risks to patients were not fully assessed and well-managed.

The report added: “Staff understood and fulfilled their responsibilities to raise concerns, and to report incidents and near
misses.

“However we found that the incident process that the practice had in place had not been adhered to.

“There was no robust system in place for the monitoring of high risk drugs, such as methotrexate and lithium.

“Records did not show an alert that these patients needed monitoring and we saw that patients had not been monitored as required.”

Sarah Parkin, practice manager at Abbey Medical Practice, said: “Our team is really pleased with the outcome of the inspection.

“Our patients said they were treated with compassion, dignity and respect and are able to get appointments on the day – something that is important to us.

“We have a hard working and committed team and they deserve this recognition.”