FIVE doctors’ practices in the region pose such a concern they will have to be investigated by the NHS health care watchdog.

Moorlands Surgery, in Darlington, Woodbridge Practice and Thornaby and Barwick Medical Group, both in Thornaby, and McKenzie House, in Hartlepool, are all at risk of offering patients poor care, a survey by the Care Quality Commission (CQC) revealed.

As a result the surgeries have been placed in a “high risk” band and will be visited and assessed in the next year. 

Journee Medical Practice, in Hartlepool, will also be inspected but has been labelled a lower risk surgery.

Issues include trouble getting appointments, mental health plans and the potentially low numbers of over 65s receiving the flu jab.

Patients were also dissatisfied with the privacy of some of the reception areas, opening hours and the level of care doctors showed them.

Professor Steve Field, CQC chief inspector, said most surgeries in England provided good care but added that the watchdog was still finding some “very poor practices”.

“These are typically chaotic, have very poor leadership and a lack of learning culture. They also have a poor skill mix and some do not have any nurses.”

James Wharton, MP for Stockton South, said he was “pleased” that Woodbridge Practice and Thornaby and Barwick Medical Group are to be investigated.

“A number of residents have raised concerns with me about waiting times and other issues,” he said.

“GPs surgeries are managed by the practice and clearly there is evidence that some are not meeting the highs standards we should expect.  I am pleased this is being picked up and will be investigated.  We need to ensure any problems are resolved and if new processes need to be in place that they are adopted. 

“Overall we have good GPs in this area with hard working staff. We do not want a small number of surgeries to damage the reputation of care overall and I am happy to offer to help resolve these issues in whatever way I can.”

Katherine Murphy, chief executive of The Patients Association, said that she hoped the findings would spur GPs on to improve their appointment systems. “It is an area that general practice has to get right," she said.

The watchdog ranked 7,276 practices in England. Nearly 12 per cent were placed in the highest risk band.

The North-East did better than average, with 69 per cent being listed in the categories with the “lowest concern”.

Surgeries were ranked using 38 different indicators including official statistics, patient surveys and levels of treatment.

But medical professionals have dismissed the CQC’s data as “frustrating” and “artificial”.

A spokesman for Moorlands Surgery said: “The data used in this survey is more than six months old. The staff were aware that the service being provided up to March 2014 could be improved.

“Since the survey was undertaken the practice has employed three more doctors and introduced a completely new telephone system.

“We also have a Patient Participation Group, which regularly meets to discuss a range of subjects.”

Dr John Canning, secretary of Cleveland Local Medical Committee, said: “The data the CQC has used was designed to ask questions not draw conclusions.

“What I find frustrating is that it has drawn these conclusions before it has done its investigations. It is like a doctor drawing a diagnosis before seeing their patient.

“A real health warning should be applied to some of the statistics.”

The Northern Echo contacted the other surgeries but nobody was available to comment.

The watchdog said the register did not necessarily show poor GP performance.