A GP practice in Croydon has been rated "inadequate" following an inspection by the Care Quality Commission (CQC).
Woodside Group Practice, in South Norwood, must make urgent improvements after being given the lowest possible grade in four areas.
The CQC said staff felt "undervalued" after a merger and patients had found it "very difficult" to contact the practice on the phone.
In some cases patients had to wait for more than two weeks to access routine appointments.
Woodside Group Practice has been told to improve in the following areas:
- It must ensure significant events are recorded appropriately and discussed.
- The complaints procedure must be reviewed, and regular reviews of complaints must take place.
- There must be regular medication reviews of people requiring repeat prescriptions.
- The appointments system must be monitored and reviewed.
- All paper based patient records must be stored securely.
In a statement released today (February 5) the CQC said it would work with Croydon Clinical Commissioning Group (CCG) and NHS England to support Woodside Group Practice.
Sarah Seaholme, the CQC's deputy chief inspector of general practice, said: "It is important that the people who are registered with Woodside Group Practice can rely on getting the high quality care which everyone is entitled to receive from their GP.
"Although the patients we met told us they were treated with dignity and respect, we also found that care and treatment was not always delivered in line with best practice. There was little monitoring of the service being provided, or regular medication reviews and not enough learning from audits.
"We know that Woodside Group Practice has acknowledged the areas where action must be taken. We will return to check its progress.
"If in the coming months we don't see sufficient improvement we may have to consider a package of further measures to ensure that this practice delivers the care and treatment to a standard that we all expect."
Read the full inspection report here.
