Patients are struggling to make GP appointments, watchdog says

Out of 336 practices, patients at one in six surgeries had problems booking appointments, inspectors from the Care Quality Commission (CQC) said.

Prof Steve Field, the CQC’s chief inspector of GPs, said that “unfortunately the vast majority are being let down by a small minority “.

He said that inspectors had seen some examples of poor 
care.

He added: “What I want is that all patients have access to really good care wherever they are and we will make sure that happens.”

The CQC said some practices did not have robust and consistent systems for reporting incidents, or a culture of identifying where things had gone wrong and learning from them.

The 336 practices, which were inspected between April and September 2014, are pilots in a new inspection regime that will involve nearly 8,000 practices. They are to be inspected by March 2016 with each being rated as either outstanding, good or requiring improvement. The bottom rating is inadequate.

It is a move away from the previous regime in which inspectors just had to report whether they were compliant with a set of core standards.

Any GP practice which is found to be inadequate will get six months to improve.

They will then be placed in special measures if they do not move out of this rating and given another six months to make change.

Being in special measures without finding a way to improve will lead to either the CQC 
withdrawing its registration or NHS England terminating its contract.