An Oldham GP practice has been ordered to improve in a damning report which said the surgery could be missing diabetes and kidney disease cases.

Block Lane Surgery, in Chadderton, was told it requires improvement by health watchdog the Care Quality Commission (CQC) following a visit in May.

The practice was previously rated as ‘good.’

In particular, the practice was told in the report, published this week, it had failed to provide care and treatment in a safe way for its patients.

If a service ‘requires improvement,’ the people running it are told how it must improve – unlike an ‘inadequate’ rating, where action is taken against them.  

The CQC, the regulator of health and social care in England, has four possible ratings for the services it inspects: Outstanding, Good, Requires Improvement, and Inadequate.

Inspectors found that ‘significant events,’ where a patient may have been harmed, were not being discussed at monthly meetings, against the practice’s own procedure – with no learning taking place following them.

The report noted that some patients on certain drugs, such as Spironolactone, which affects kidney function, had not had the required checks to continue with their medication.

Additionally, inspectors found evidence of potentially missed diagnoses of diabetes and chronic kidney disease.

Figures from Diabetes UK show that 500 people living with diabetes die prematurely every week in England and Wales – with many of these deaths caused by avoidable complications.

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CQC inspectors also said that complaints made to the practice were not used to improve the quality of care – and none that inspectors looked at had been handled in a timely way.

Leadership at the practice was also criticised in the report, with inspectors noting that staff had not been involved with developing strategy at the practice and required checks for locum GPs had not taken place.

Additionally, some staff were shared with another practice – but there was no formal agreement in place for this, no documentation relating to their employment at the GP.

However, inspectors did note that the service had met patients’ needs during the pandemic, and staff at the practice were commended for treating patients with kindness, respect, and compassion.

According to the 2021 NHS GP Patient Survey, just 19 per cent of patients at Block Lane Surgery said they “usually get to see or speak to their preferred GP when they would like to” – compared to a nationwide average of 45 per cent.

Additionally, just 69 per cent described their overall experience as good, compared to the nationwide average of 83 per cent.

The surgery was contacted for comment but did not respond.