A GP surgery has been placed into special measures after being rated ‘inadequate’ by the Care Quality Commission (CQC).

Inspectors gave the worst rating to Longfleet House Surgery in Poole following an inspection in September. The practice, which is managed by Integral Medical Holdings (IMH), was previously rated ‘good’.

A report published on Tuesday, November 21, explained why the service was rated inadequate for being safe, effective and well-led. It ‘requires improvement’ for being caring and responsive to people’s needs.

Inspectors found there was a shortfall of routine appointments due to an ongoing "severe shortage" of clinical staff, and the practice was unable to meet the requirements of patients, which had led to frequent verbal complaints around appointment availability.

Urgent appointments were found to be available on the day, but both urgent and routine appointments were subject to reception staff triage processes that could result in the refusal of an appointment.

The practice was also found to have no clear leadership structure and insufficient leadership capacity.

The inspection team reported that two long-serving GP partners had retired in the last two years, with only two remaining, and there were just two salaried GPs, meaning the practice relied on locum GPs for some clinical sessions.

When assessing the safety of the surgery, an inspector cited a “significant event” in August 2017, which had not been reported to staff or patients.

“For several days the electronic prescriptions had not been sent to the relevant pharmacies and this was not identified. The issue was only rectified when one of the pharmacies told the practice they had not been receiving prescriptions,” they said.

“The event was attributed to the new computer system but there was no monitoring of the system to ensure that this did not happen again.”

The inspector noted the practice maintained “appropriate standards of cleanliness and hygiene”.

Ruth Rankine, deputy chief inspector of General Practice, said: “It is concerning to find a surgery that was previously rated Good now in a state of decline. The provider will need to ensure that all of the risks that have been identified are addressed.

“However, in the meantime as a result of this inspection we have placed Longfleet House Surgery into special measures.

“We will re-inspect the practice within six months to check whether sufficient improvements have been made. If we find that the service provided by this surgery remains inadequate, we will not hesitate to take further action.”

Richard Power, CEO of IMH, said the practice had been “struggling to recruit staff” over the summer but had since recruited a lead GP, as well as a full-time GP and part-time GP.

“The practice is now fully staffed so we can implement the changes that are needed,” he said.

“There is a recruitment crisis in the sector and a national shortage of GPs. We were under pressure but now have a stable clinical team.

“We’re working with the CCG on the training required for staff, which is hard to do until you have a full cohort of staff.”