Newington Road GP surgery has announced to patients that it is under new management.
The surgery changed hands following the resignation of directors, and GPs, Dr Nadia Mohammed and Dr Adem Akyol in October last year. Dr Mohammed is, however, still listed as a GP at the surgery.
The director resignations came on the heels of a tribunal hearing in September where Dr Akyol received a 12 month suspension for misconduct.
The Medical Practitioners Tribunal panel found allegations proved including that Dr Akyol had not kept accurate records of consultations with some patients, understood to be relatives or close personal relationships, and in some cases had altered notes to indicate falsely that they had been seen by another GP at the surgery.
A total of 77 instances are listed as admitted and found proved.
Among the allegations listed is that Dr Akyol dishonestly created a consultation note in Patient F’s medical record on 16 July 2012 after she was detained by the UK Border Agency on 2 June 2012 whilst attempting to take a significant sum of money out of the UK.
The findings say: “Patient F also enjoys a close personal relationship with Dr Akyol. Dr Akyol allegedly wrote a letter to the UK Border Agency using Dr D’s letterhead signed “pp Dr D” which created the misleading impression that the letter had been authorised by Dr D.
“This letter asserted that Patient F suffered from problems with her memory. Dr Akyol is alleged to have been dishonest in altering the medical records relating to Patient F by creating an entry showing that there had been a consultation with Patient F on 2 June 2012 including a physical examination on that day, although this consultation could not have occurred as Patient F was detained at Heathrow Airport at that time.”
General Medical Council counsel Alan Taylor said at the tribunal that Dr Akyol’s misconduct spanned a considerable period. He treated and vaccinated (a number of) family members over the course of 9 years and altered their records 15 times during a period of 2 and ½ years.
He submitted that Dr Akyol treated a family member, was then threatened by Dr E that he would be reported to his Regulator, falsified their medical record and then repeated this many times. He also reminded the Tribunal that this conduct occurred against the background of a warning. Mr Taylor submitted that the backdrop of the warning was relevant to Dr Akyol’s level of insight and the risk of repetition. Mr Taylor reminded the Tribunal that it had concluded that the UK Border Agency had been misled because of Dr Akyol’s letter dated 2 June 2012.
Following the tribunal’s decision to suspend Dr Akyol, he and Dr Mohammed resigned from Newington Road Surgery Ltd on October 17. The new directors are listed as Dr Jalil Ahmed and Dr Jonathan Allinson, who are both also chiefs at eHarley Street Primary Care Solutions which provides centralised surgery management systems to GP practices.
A report by the Care Quality Commission into standards at the Newington surgery has also been published today (January 6) following an inspection in November.
The surgery, which has some7,400 patients, was rated as requires improvement overall. Responsiveness and well led rated as requiring improvement although safety, effectiveness and caring were all graded as good.
A previous inspection in February 2022 had resulted in the practice being rated inadequate and placed into special measures with enforcement taken by the CQC including warning notes for breaches of safe care and treatment and good governance., meaning the new grading shows improvement.
The report published today says there had been significant improvements to the practice since the previous inspection and the practice provided care in a way that kept patients safe and protected them from avoidable harm.
However, inspectors found there were some issues with the frequency of monitoring of emergency equipment and vaccines’ fridge monitoring. These issues were rectified during the course of the inspection.
Clinical searches indicated that patients received effective care and treatment that met their needs and staff dealt with patients with kindness and respect and staff reported a positive culture and they felt able to raise concerns.
But patient feedback was poor regarding accessing services and appointments and there was one regulation breach with the provider now needing to ensure systems and processes of governance are established and operated effectively.
The report adds: “There is a new leadership team who took control of the day to day running of the practice in October 2022. This team includes clinical leadership and support and non-clinical management for the practice.
“The new team have implemented new governance structures and provided staff with new tools to support improvements in care and services. Two new members of nursing staff were in the process of being recruited at the time of inspection. The practice was also aiming to recruit an additional GP.”
The NHS Kent and Medway Integrated Care Board (ICB) is offering an incentive of up to £15,000 for new GPs joining surgeries including Newington. The incentive also applies to vacancies at Bethesda, Dashwood, Summerhill and The Limes surgeries as well as in other areas of the county.
A message now published on the Newington Road GP Surgery website says: “Newington Road Surgery is now under new management. The new team are working hard to make changes that will improve the service for our patients. “We thank you for your patience during the transition.”
It makes one wonder who to trust these days, do those who are supposed to monitor GPs carry a can of white wash paint with them.
The Dr has been found guilty of 77 issues that have taken place over a timescale of over 10 years yet the patients have only just found out about it.
Absolute disgrace, glad I have recently left this Surgery. Makes you laugh how Dr Akyol, manages to falsify a family members records, ( who he had a close personal relationship with, hmmm ) to say they had been seen yet the ordinary patients are unable to get an appointment to see a Doctor.
I am a patient at this surgery- I am heartbroken Dr Akyol has left. My experience of the surgery has been nothing but positive- always able to get an appointment, a kind thorough and efficient service. Dr Akyol is the best GP I have ever experienced – his departure is a huge loss.
I am also a patient at the surgery, I am chronically ill and feel the inadequacy of the surgery goes back many years, I was sent home with naproxen over and over and my condition took over ten years to diagnose as they refused to refer me, I have been unable to see a GP in 3 years now and suffer in silence, it is not all their fault that the NHS is being picked apart, it is an impossible situation that is not acceptable to patients.
Catryn Beynon were you the close family member this doctor was falsifying records for?
This is scandalous really and he should be struck off, not just allowed to go elsewhere and start again.
Don’t care what happened! He will be missed so much, been my family doctor for years and never had any issues. Also if sticking information on their website stating under new management is their way of informing patients then what a load of crap! Many patients can’t access or know how to use the internet and can certainly confirm no letters has been sent out regarding this matter.
They may well have been, but like GP’s have been on a fully paid strike for the last 3 years, Royal Mail have been on strike as well.
as they say = doctors bury thier mistakes ?
Doctor Akyol is a great doctor and will be sadly missed by most of his patients.
Mmmm they said Dr Shipman was a “wonderful Dr” he was “devoted to his patients” only problem was he murdered at least 235 patients.
Dr Akyol unfortunately has let himself and patients down.
I’m not suggesting Dr Akyol was like Dr Shipman.
I love your comment and truthful
I have no actual issues with Dr. Akyol although it seems he is not averse to flouting set procedures and immigrations rules, hmmmm,, how unusual.
A big crime as far asI am concerned is only just finding out about the practice shenanigans and the fact I appear to have been without a doctor for a while at least!
If I had not read this on-line and through TheI Isle of Thanet News, I would still be in the dark about this – I’m just so glad that I have not needed a doctor’s attention urgently.
Why are patients not told of these things directly instead of having to find out by sheer chance???
I’m a patient at this surgery I’ve not been informed about having a new doctor. I did have a very nice Dr Ali who walked out in 2018 I’m sure he knew they were doing under hand things. Then I was given nadia mohammed as my GP . I’ve heard so many complaints about her. I dont think she knows what shes talking about most of the time
Dr Ali come back
He was the worst doctor there, blocking referrals for chronically ill patients of the other GPs.
DR Ali was a clown 🤡 he should have been struck off years ago,I had to see him years ago as was only Dr available that day, I had to tell him what was wrong with my ongoing health issue although it was in front of him on the computer screen, Dr Akyol was the best doctor there without a doubt he will be missed,
This is deeply shocking. I thought a quick search would show something about it in the national news, but so far I’ve found nothing. Thank you Kathy for publishing this.
I would have thought that Dr Aykol would be facing criminal charges but that does not seem to be the case.
And yet, some patients obviously thought he was good. It would be so much easier to process this wretched story if Dr Aykol had been useless all round but his apparent competence in some respects make this a hideous example of ‘who can you trust?’
And now a private company at the helm. They want profit and that is usually not good news in terms of quality of care.
Until this hits the national news I’ll continue to see it all as a big fat NHS cover-up.
Dear Carina. Dr. Akyol is a superb doctor and has obviously erred. In life people such as yourself that are quick to judge are usually the ones who have never put a foot wrong and led a blameless life. Congratulations. The chances are you have done little else than criticise most of your life. Newington Surgery will struggle to find a better doctor and he will be sadly missed by most of the community
Sure Jan.
On the contrary, if more information emerges that casts a different light on this sorry tale, I will think again and again as necessary. The article states that his misconduct ‘spanned a considerable period’ which does not sound like a few mistakes or examples of poor judgement. On the face of it he has brought his profession into disrepute just at a time when doctors are under more stress than ever and many will, inevitably, make some poor decisions.
I hear you when you say he was a superb doctor and that really stings because his resignation will therefore be a real loss to patients. But he did have to resign – going by this article and this article alone (I have searched for more information in the hope that there were some mitigating circumstances) we’re talking years of bending the rules and eventually straying into illegality.
The fact is he was dishonest, and should be struck off! Nothing about where he is now though, which is disturbing!