Black Country GP practice with more than 8,000 patients told to improve by health inspectors
A Black Country medical practice which cares for more than 8,000 patients needs to take action to improve its services, a health watchdog has said.
Anchor Medical Practice, which is based at Netherton Health Centre in Halesowen Road, has been given an overall rating of 'requires improvement' following an inspection by the Care Quality Commission (CQC) last month.
Inspectors found that recruitment, immunisation checks, mandatory training and health and safety risk assessments to support good governance were "not always effective".
A recently published report outlining the inspection's findings said there were safeguarding processes to keep people safe and safeguarded from abuse, however not all staff were trained to the appropriate levels for their role.
It also noted there was an absence of appropriate staff recruitment checks to ensure safety and checks of staff immunisation status or appropriate risk assessments had not been completed for all staff.
However, there were also a number of positive findings.
The report said patients’ needs were assessed and care and treatment was delivered in line with current standards, and the practice learned from incidents, events and complaints and ensured learning was shared amongst the staff team.
It added: "We found the premises were well maintained, appeared clean and tidy and had appropriate infection prevention and control arrangements in place.
"Staff dealt with patients with kindness and respect and involved them in decisions about their care.
"Patients could access care and treatment in a timely way."
But inspectors also noted: "There were governance systems in place, however they did not always work effectively, in particular the oversight of recruitment checks for staff employed."
The CQC rated the medical practice as good for being effective, caring and responsive, but it was given a 'requires improvement' rating for how safe and well-led services are.
It was also given an overall rating of 'requires improvement'.
The practice, which was told it needs to take a number of actions to improve, delivers medical services to a patient population of about 8,090.
It is run by two GP partners and the clinical team includes an advanced nurse practitioner, two practice nurses and two health care assistants.
The medical practice has been contacted for comment.
