A Peckham GP’s surgery has been placed in special measures after being rated “inadequate” in several areas, including keeping expired vaccines in the same fridge as in-date doses.
The Acorn and Gaumont House surgery on Peckham High Street will face another inspection again in September, six months after the last visit from regulators. If staff have not made drastic improvements by then, the company operating the surgery could lose its registration.
Failings found by regulators the Care Quality Commission (CQC) included:
- Measles, mumps and rubella vaccines kept two months past their sell-by date in the same fridges as usable doses – putting patients at risk
- Records not kept up-to-date properly, meaning patients could be “at risk of not being appropriately re-called, followed up, and reviewed”
- Emergency medicines kept on a trolley in the reception staff room, meaning any staff member could potentially have access
Peckham’s The Acorn and Gaumont House GP Surgery rated ‘inadequate’ after inspection
Patients had mixed feelings about Acorn and Gaumont. Some were positive, saying that most staff were “caring” but adding that the service had suffered during the Covid-19 pandemic. One said that staff were rude.
Dr Rosie Benneyworth, CQC’s head of inspection for primary medical services in London, said: “I am placing this service in special measures. Services placed in special measures will be inspected again within six months.
“If insufficient improvements have been made such that there remains a rating of inadequate for any population group, key question or overall, we will take action in line with our enforcement procedures to begin the process of preventing the provider from operating the service. This will lead to cancelling their registration or to varying the terms of their registration within six months if they do not improve.
“The service will be kept under review and if needed could be escalated to urgent enforcement action. Where necessary, another inspection will be conducted within a further six months, and if there is not enough improvement, we will move to close the service by adopting our proposal to remove this location or cancel the provider’s registration.
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“Special measures will give people who use the service the reassurance that the care they get should improve.”
The surgery, which has about 8,860 patients, has been rated inadequate since 2019. Concerns were first highlighted in 2018. The surgery has been contacted for comment on the latest inspection.
