A DERBYSHIRE doctor has criticised plans to carry out Ofsted-style inspections at GP surgeries.
A care watchdog will start inspecting all 8,000 practices this October and grading them "outstanding", "good", "requires improvement" or "inadequate"'
Those rated inadequate will be placed in special measures if they fail to improve within six months – or in the worst cases, immediately.
Failing surgeries that do not improve will face closure, the Care Quality Commission (CQC) said.
Dr John Grenville, secretary of the Derbyshire Local Medical Committee, said the move could cause problems.
He said: "I think it's going to be quite difficult for the CQC to simply divide practices into four levels because the way they work is extremely complicated.
"Once it's done, people will starting doing league tables. That will cause problems because patients at a practice that "requires improvement" will move to a practice that is rated "outstanding" or "good" – and those practices will become even more swamped.
"The other problem is practices that "require improvement" will be classified as a failure, when actually they're not.
"Everyone has the potential to improve. Even the most outstanding practices can do better, so I'm not entirely happy with that grading."
Despite not being in favour of Ofsted-style inspections, Dr Grenville said he did not believe Derbyshire had anything to worry about.
He said: "I'm not convinced the standard of GP surgeries is a major problem.
"The majority of practices have a 90% approval rate from patients. Other industries would die for that.
"You will always get some patients who are not happy and will make a noise about it but most people think their practice is great.
"Very, very few practices – particularly in Derbyshire – will find themselves being rated inadequate."
CQC's chief inspector of general practice, Professor Steve Field, said that from October this year failing practices would face being put special measures.
"I want to call time on poor care and do all I can to drive up standards in practices that are not providing the services people deserve."
