Tipton GP surgery under fire over health breaches

Swanpool Medical Centre in Tipton has been rated 'requires improvement' in safety, effectiveness, care and responsiveness.

It was also rated as 'inadequate' in its leadership.

Listing the breaches of the Health and Social Care Act 2008, the latest report published by the Care Quality Commission (CQC) said the surgery 'did not have robust systems to ensure patients were protected against the risk of unsafe or inappropriate care and treatment'.

• Click here to read the full CQC report

The surgery on St Marks Road was also criticised following the inspection in November for its cleaning procedures, with the inspectors stating: "There was no records kept for the cleaning of clinical equipment and only the nurses room contained wipes.

"We asked clinical staff how they cleaned their equipment and couches and were advised it was with hand rub."

There were concerns about safety in terms of reporting incidents, with the CQC concluding that not enough had been done since their last inspection.

The report stated: "At our previous inspection in June 2015 we identified concerns in relation to the management of incidents and safety alerts.

"At this inspection the practice was still unable to demonstrate that an effective system was in place.

"There was a system in place for reporting and recording significant events. However, the systems in place were not sufficiently effective in ensuring that when things went wrong learning took place."

Although rated as 'requires improvement' in terms of care, there was some praise for the GP surgery, with the report stating: "We saw staff treated patients with kindness and respect, and maintained patient and information confidentiality."

Swanpool Medical Centre merged with Glebefields Practice in June 201.

Bosses at the surgery were contacted for a response but did not comment.