An Elephant and Castle doctors’ surgery with 7,100 patients has been taken over by caretaker managers, after it failed to meet regulatory standards for eighteen months.
The Falmouth Road Group Practice had been placed in special measures in July 2015 by health watchdog, the Care Quality Commission (CQC), and is now being run by “interim managers”.
Its former managers, Dr Gul-I-Raana and Dr Roukha Onojeje Oraka, had their registrations cancelled after CQC inspectors revisited in October 2016.
The inspectors’ report will not be published until February, but it is known that they felt that “concerns raised had not been sufficiently addressed”.
A CQC report published in May 2016 had found that emergency appointments were too often being delayed, and that staff “did not always feel valued or supported”.
The 7,100 registered patients were informed by letters sent out in December.
A spokesperson for NHS Southwark Clinical Commissioning Group, which works with NHS England to pay for GP practices with government funding said: “A third and final inspection by the CQC in October 2016 concluded that concerns raised had not been sufficiently addressed and there were continuing issues.
“As a result, the GP partnership in place at the time was advised that the CQC intended to cancel their registration.
“We have been working closely with local health partners to ensure patients at Falmouth Road Group Practice continue to be able to access high quality, effective care at all times.
“New GP providers will take over services from Monday 16 January 2017.
“NHS England and NHS Southwark CCG can assure patients that they will be kept informed and will continue to access GP services at Falmouth Road Group Practice in the same way as they always have done. Representatives of NHS England and NHS Southwark CCG will be at the practice on 16 January to support a smooth handover and to reassure patients.”
GPs from the practice did not wish to comment.