New Eastbourne medical centre found to have regulation breaches
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Victoria Medical Centre (VMC) has branches in Victoria Drive and The Beacon. The Victoria Drive branch was founded in August 2020 due to a merger between The Green Street Clinic, Enys Road Surgery and the Bolton Road Surgery. In August 2021 Eastbourne Station Health Centre joined, and a second branch in The Beacon opened.
VMC had an announced CQC inspection and the report is out with an overall rating of requires improvement. The CQC rates services in five categories - safe, responsive, well-led, effective, and caring. The caring category got a good rating, but the others were requires improvement.
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Hide AdThe report said policies around safeguarding weren’t always clear, the practice didn’t have an effective policy for reporting significant events, and medicines/documents weren’t always properly stored.
According to the report, not all patients with a long-term condition or a potential missed diagnosis had received appropriate monitoring and clinical review. The report also raised issues around how complaints are handled, oversight of leaders, and equipment not always being ‘fit for use’.
The report said: “We found two breaches of regulations. The provider must: Ensure that care and treatment is provided in a safe way. Establish effective systems and processes to ensure good governance in accordance with the fundamental standards of care.”
On a positive note - staff were praised for their care to patients, the practice has an active patient participation group, and staff training is prioritised. The facilities were also praised by the CQC.
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Hide AdA VMC spokesperson said: “We were asked by NHS Sussex to oversee the merger of four GP practices into one. This type of process normally takes five years to complete, but we are just 18 months into it. There is little surprise that some of our services require improvement as we work through a massive project of change and the introduction of new services.
“Although we recognise some of the constructive feedback, we feel strongly that the CQC has not taken account of the scope of our services and has ignored some of our responses. We have appealed against the CQC’s decision.
“We are in the top five per cent of practices for Health & Safety and are the only practice to offer a mental health drop-in centre in a shopping centre.”