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.”
