Important Update Following Our Recent CQC Inspection
Important Update Following Our Recent CQC Inspection
We’ve sent a letter to all our patients addressing key points from our recent Care Quality Commission (CQC) inspection. The Lanchester team was disappointed with these findings and has been working hard to put things right. We’re committed to transparency and continuous improvement – and we want to keep you informed.
Thank you for your ongoing support.
Thursday, 6th November 2025
Dear Patient,
The Care Quality Commission (CQC) recently inspected the practice at Lanchester Medical Centre, and its report has been published, evaluating the services we offer as “inadequate” and placing the practice in special measures. I would like to express my sincere regret to you as a patient at Lanchester for any poor practice you or your family has experienced.
In August, I was made aware of the initial findings by the CQC and, in agreement with the CQC and the Integrated Care Board (ICB) I asked South Durham Health Community Interest Company (SDH) run the practice on my behalf. Over recent weeks, I have been working closely with SDH to understand better the CQC’s concerns and to develop an action plan to address them. I can confirm this plan is now in place and the team at Lanchester is working hard to implement it. This will be an ongoing process over the coming months.
The CQC identified a number of themes for improvement. Some of these are related directly to patient care and to specific conditions. I understand that you might have questions about the care you, or a member of your family are receiving. It is not possible to cover all the questions that might be raised in this letter but, in the Appendix that follows, I have tried to address some of the issues raised by the CQC in their report.
I am grateful to the hardworking staff at the practice who have kept services open during a period that has been difficult for everyone – patients and staff alike. It is my intention that, in partnership with you, our patients and our staff, we will rebuild services at Lanchester to offer you the high quality, safe, service you deserve.
I hope the questions and answers provided in the Appendix answer your questions. If they don’t, and you would like to discuss your concerns in more detail you can contact the practice through our online form Contact – Lanchester Medical Centre and someone will get in touch for a conversation.
Alternatively, from today until Wednesday, 12th November we are providing a dedicated phoneline for your questions. The number to call is 0191 2655799. It will be open from 9.00am – 3.00pm Monday – Friday.
If your question relates to a current medical problem, please call reception and make an appointment to see a healthcare professional in the usual way.
South Durham Health continues to work with the practice, and I am grateful for their support and advice. This arrangement will remain in place for the next two months until I return to work in the practice in early 2026.
I am deeply sorry for the position we now find ourselves in and the faults found in my clinical leadership by the CQC. Please accept my assurance that I am doing everything in my power to address the issues raised and I am committed to making Lanchester Medical Centre a practice you can trust with your care and the care of your family.
Yours sincerely,
Dr Harpreet Kalra
GP Partner, Lanchester Medical Centre
GMC Registration 7126076
Appendix
Lanchester Medical Centre (LMC)
Questions and Answers Arising from CQC Findings
Q. Is LMC a safe medical practice?
A. The CQC has noted that they saw people were at risk of harm. This is deeply concerning and all at LMC are doing their utmost to address the problems identified. Over the past two months we have been working with the team from SDH to review our systems and processes and to make sure we offer safe services.
- Significant events are incidents that arise during the working day. These are recorded and fed back into weekly meetings with all the clinical staff so we can learn from them.
- Medicines Healthcare Regulatory Agency (MHRA) alerts are issued from the NHS and cascaded to all clinical staff. We have put a process in place that makes sure a member of the clinical team assesses these, shares them with colleagues and makes sure action is followed through.
- Infection risks are overseen by our Practice Manager and looked after each day by our Healthcare Assistant. They both undertook additional training in June this year to make sure they were up to date with best practice. A specialist officer from the Integrated Care Board visited LMC on 12th August and undertook a practice audit. There are always opportunities to learn and improve from such assessments and several minor recommendations were identified. These have all been addressed.
- Complaints
Q. How many complaints has the practice received? How many are outstanding? What are the complaints about? Why could the practice not tell the CQC how many complaints they had received?
A. From 1st January 2025 until 20th October LMC recorded 19 formal complaints. Of these 9 were received before 12th August when SDH stepped in to run the practice. Since 12th Aug there have been 10 complaints received, and of these 18 have received a response to date. Any complaints received since 20th October are being processed with the intention of providing a response within one month. All patients are kept advised of the progress of their complaints.
Trend analysis of the complaints received in 2025 indicates 5 related to Medication/ Prescription, 4 to Communications/Attitude, 3 to Clinical Treatment, 5 to delays to referrals, and 2 related to treatments not available on the NHS.
We take all complaints seriously and seek to learn from them. All complaints are registered as they are received and confirmation of receipt sent. Investigations are put in place with the practice aiming to respond to all complainants within one month. Where this is not possible complainants are contacted to explain to them what is happening.
Unfortunately, when the CQC visited LMC in July, the person who managed the process and the register was not available. We have learnt from this, and we no longer rely on only one person to have access to the records.
Over the summer months, the practice also recorded the concerns of a number of patients expressing disappointment at the loss of the regular locum doctor and an associated reduction in the number of clinical appointments that were available during this time. This feedback was noted and forms part of the findings in the CQC report. No letters were issued in response to this for which I apologise.
- Long-Term Conditions: Diabetes, Asthma, COPD, heart failure, hypertension (high blood pressure).
Q. What is a long-term condition? How do I know I’m on the right treatment?
A. A long-term condition is an illness that cannot be cured but can usually be controlled with medicines or other treatments. The CQC found some examples of care where we had not got this right.
- Diabetes: County Durham sets a standard for the management of diabetes and LMC meets these standards. The CQC found there were some improvements that could be made with recording and following up on certain results. We have put in place new arrangements to manage this; all staff have been made aware and there is a daily review process in place to ensure the agreed processes are followed.
From the work we have done, we believe no patients have come to harm.
- Asthma: the CQC identified some concern regarding the management of asthma. These related mainly to acute episodes of care, and we are taking steps to ensure all staff are aware of the guidelines they should follow moving forward.
From the work we have done, we believe no patients have come to harm.
- Planning Patient Care: The CQC has identified that there were gaps in our approach to joint planning of patient care for long term conditions. We are working to address this and believe the intention to recruit more permanent staff will help to deliver this.
If any patient has a concern regarding the management of their long-term condition, they should make an appointment to see a member of the clinical team in the usual way.
- Steroid Injections
Q. Why does LMC no longer offer steroid injections? I was receiving regular steroid injections, and this has stopped – why? Are steroid injections safe?
A. Steroid injections are offered for a wide range of conditions. They should be delivered in accordance with good practice guidelines and administered by a suitably trained individual. At LMC it was identified that more steroid injections were being delivered than is considered normal for our population. Based on this and given there is currently no suitably qualified clinician in the practice to offer this specialist service we have taken the decision to refer all potential candidates to the County Durham Musculo-Skeletal Service (MSK). If you are interested in reading more about steroids and their use, the link provides some helpful information for patients: Steroids – NHS
If you have previously been treated with steroids and are concerned that this is no longer part of your treatment plan, or, if you are concerned about the clinical appropriateness of treatment you have received, please make an appointment with one of the medical team to discuss this.
Q. I’ve been on the same medicine for a number of years – is this safe? How often is my long-term medication reviewed? The doctors have changed my medicines recently – why?
A. The CQC has identified that there were problems with the way we recorded how each patient’s medicines are managed. Since August the practice pharmacy team, in partnership with a lead doctor, has been reviewing the records of all patients on long-term medicines. Where they think it’s needed, they have telephoned or invited patients in to the practice for a discussion. In other cases, they have made sure the records are up-to-date and correctly documented. We are still working through this and expect to complete the exercise by the end of January 2026.
The vast majority of problems identified have related to poor record keeping rather than poor patient care and this is being put right.
- Qualified Staff
Q. How can I be sure that I see someone who has the right qualifications for the job?
A. The CQC has identified that record keeping for the qualifications our staff hold has not always been as good as it should be. Since August we have been going through a process of updating the appraisals of all our employed staff and checking their qualifications are correctly recorded.
Individually, we believe all staff have the qualifications and experience to work at the standard expected. As a team, there is work to be done to make sure care is seamless and continuous. We have identified that there has been a lack of consistency in some areas of clinical cover, and we are working to address this, so we have a stable workforce that works effectively together.
All clinical professionals: doctors, nurses, pharmacists etc are registered with their own professional regulator. Registration requires them to submit evidence of their professional education and qualifications. On appointment, all qualifications are checked for permanent and locum staff. Each professional registration body requires its members to re-register from time to time and to demonstrate regular professional development.
- General Practitioners
Q. How many General Practitioners are based at Lanchester Medical Centre? Can I choose which GP I see? Can I see a lady doctor? Why do the doctors at Lanchester keep changing? Why are there not enough appointments?
A. At LMC, we seek to provide a choice of GPs including female GP sessions. We now provide more than 20 clinical sessions (a full day consists of 2 sessions) including GP and Advanced Nurse Practitioner sessions seeing patients Monday – Friday. There are additional duties such as seeing patients in care homes or in their own home as well as supervising and training more junior staff.
When you call the surgery for an appointment the reception staff will be happy to advise you which doctors are available and when. If you have a preference regarding who you see, they will be happy to help you with this. Please remember that this might mean you wait longer to see your doctor of choice. Since August, we have increased the number of GP clinics held each week.
Lanchester is pleased to have Dr Julie Oliver on its team. Dr Oliver works every Monday morning and can be booked through the practice in the usual way.
We recognise there has been some inconsistency in the number of general practitioners working at Lanchester over recent months. While we are grateful to all those who have provided support to ensure the surgery remains open, we acknowledge the need to put in place a stable medical workforce. I am committing myself to working two full days (four clinical sessions) in the practice. We have advertised for permanent staff on a number of occasions and so far, have been unsuccessful. We continue to seek colleagues to join the team. In the meantime, we are working with a team of suitably qualified locum doctors.
Q. What happens when my test results come in? How will I hear about these? Why do you call me late in the evening – does it mean it’s urgent? Why does the NHS App show me I need to call the practice to discuss results but there is no-one there to answer?
A. The CQC identified that we were calling some patients with their test results late in the evening and this caused worry especially if the phone call was missed. We have also noted feedback from patients who see their test results being filed in the online system late in the evening.
The practice receives results back at all times of the day. Normal results are actioned and filed in the patient record depending on when clinical staff see and review them. It is not our practice to advise patients of normal results due to the numbers involved. Most of our patients have access to the NHS App and results can be found there when they are filed.
Abnormal results should be actioned during working hours (8.00am-6.30pm). This is likely to involve a telephone call from a member of the practice to discuss the results over the phone or to ask a patient to make an appointment.
We understand the distress contacting a patient after hours can cause and we appreciate that there have been times when we have got this wrong. Since the CQC visit, we have been working hard with all members of the practice to improve our processes. We aim to action results before 6.30pm on a daily basis.
Q. Why did the CQC find that staff felt afraid to raise their concerns and that leaders were unapproachable?
A. As the registered provider and senior clinical leader in the practice, I accept it is my responsibility to provide the LMC team with a working environment where they feel safe and can raise their concerns.
On reflection, I recognise that I was not spending enough time in the practice working with the team and building trusted working relationships. I am committing myself to working in the practice for two full days each week. I will be leading the weekly clinical practice meetings where everyone is encouraged to bring cases to review for shared learning. I will also be available to provide clinical supervision to all clinical staff in the practice. The Practice Manager is the team leader for non-clinical staff and by working closely together I look forward to building a strong and effective team and supporting them.
To help me develop and embed this new approach I have engaged specialist human resources company SapernHR to work with me and the team at LMC. I understand there is a lot of work to do to build trust and confidence, but I am committed to putting this in place.
- The Future
Q. What is the future for Lanchester Medical Centre? Will the practice continue?
A. I believe the future for LMC is bright. The past few months have been difficult, but I am determined to learn from the CQC findings, to put things right and make the practice a service to be proud of. Over the new few weeks and months, I will continue to work with South Durham Health to put in place new systems and processes that meet your needs. As they pull back from their work with us, I am committed to making sure we maintain the new standards that have been set.
The CQC will revisit the practice, and we plan to share with them the new arrangements that have been put in place.
The Integrated Care Board (ICB) is the local NHS organisation responsible for overseeing services in general practice and they have been involved throughout this process. They will remain actively involved in working with us to make sure the changes we have put in place meet the needs of patients.
The practice relies on you, our patients, to give us your feedback so we can learn and improve. We are committed to working with you and offering you a service that is high quality in all that it does.
5th November 2025
You will find the CQC report here: https://www.cqc.org.uk/location/1-16532233340