A Royton GP surgery has been told it must improve after the health watchdog found the practice in breach of legal standards.

Care Quality Commission (CQC) inspectors heavily criticised leadership at Royton Medical Practice in their report, saying they did not see evidence leadership could deliver high-quality care.

Broken down into categories, the Chapel Street practice was rated ‘requires improvement’ in safety and responsiveness, ‘good’ for effectiveness and being caring, and ‘inadequate’ – the lowest possible rating – for the practice’s leadership.

Published last week based on an inspection in September, it was the first at Royton Medical Centre's new location.

When based on Market Street, the practice was previously given a rating of ‘good’ in all categories.

When it came to measuring the responsiveness of the service, the report stated the surgery needs to improve having found complaints "were not used to improve the quality of care" while "patient feedback around access was poor".

The judgement comes after patients at the practice have repeatedly told The Oldham Times they face enormous difficulty when it comes to booking a GP appointment and some, such as the vulnerable and elderly, struggle to grapple with the technology required.

The GP Patient Survey 2022 also placed the practice as one of the worst in the borough when it came to booking an appointment.

However, safety is also a key concern at the practice which caters to a patient population of 5,915.

The CQC report reveals it is "not effective" at obtaining Disclosure and Barring Service (DBS) checks and that it didn't follow the correct DBS process in its recruitment procedure.

It also found practice nurses are not "appropriately authorised" to administer medicine, emergency medicines are not adequately checked and equipment provided to GPs in a box needed for their surgery was also found to be "ineffective".

Upon further examination, the CQC found five medicine reviews had been completed without patients' involvement, three of which had been coded without all the repeat medicines being reviewed.

The above amounted to a breach of Regulation 12(1) of the Health and Social Care Act 2008 and Regulations 2014.

The most damning rating comes in the category 'providing well-led services' where the CQC rated Royton Medical Centre as 'inadequate'.

It found leaders were unable to demonstrate that they had the capacity to deliver high-quality care.

The inspector witnessed a handful of examples where policies were not being followed, such as the DBS checks, but also in areas such as managing events and complaints.

Even the website is challenging to navigate and contained incorrect information while details about practice staff were not included, the CQC said.

In one instance, a safety alert had not been actioned, meaning patients were not informed of the possible risks of taking a medicine.

The above amounted to a second breach of the Health and Social Care Act regulations.

However, the inspector did deem the surgery as 'good' in two areas concerning effective treatment and care.

The CQC report said staff deal with patients "with kindness and respect" and patients generally receive "effective care and treatment".

But the CQC said it does need to improve ahead of its next inspection in six months' time in key areas.

This includes improving its level of cervical screenings, monitoring patient satisfaction with a view to improve the low ratings of the GP Patient Survey and to "ensure care and treatment is provided in a safe way to patients" while establishing "good governance".

A Royton Medical Centre spokesperson said: “We welcome the findings of the Care Quality Commission’s report into the Practice as constructive criticism on which to build on and learn from.

“Furthermore, we recognise it as typical of a national picture of General Practice at a place of post-pandemic and scarce resource, where keeping up with changing processes has not always been easy.  

“It was particularly pleasing that the CQC saw what we do every day – a staff who in trying circumstances, are kind and professional in the care they administer with a particular concern for the vulnerable.

“Our pioneering work in making sure the homeless received quality healthcare was cited, as was our proactive work contacting the neediest patients to check on their health and wellbeing before potential problems escalated.

“The inspectors also noted our flexibility and availability in trying to meet the increasing demand from patients, matching appointments to windows in their busy lives.  

“Constructive feedback is worthless unless acted upon, and we can assure the community that issues raised in the CQC report have already been acted upon and addressed.

“We look forward to welcoming the CQC back in the near future so that they can see the improvements we have made.  

“Meanwhile, regardless of the increasing pressures placed upon us and the lack of resource spent on primary care, Royton Medical Centre will continue to deliver the robust, inclusive and most importantly compassionate, healthcare the CQC inspectors have celebrated.”  

The full report can be read on the Care Quality Commission website.