A MEDICAL practice has been placed in special measures by health watchdog the Care Quality Commission (CQC).

Inspectors visited Farrow Medical Centre, Otley Road, in December, rating it as inadequate in a subsequent report.

In it, they highlighted a number of legal requirements the practice was not meeting.

The report said: “The provider had failed to assess the risk of the prevention, detection, and control of the spread of infections.

“We viewed out of date equipment and dressings; the infection prevention and control audit which had been undertaken was limited in scope and incomplete.

“Cleaning schedules were not in place for the environment or clinical equipment.”

It also said the storage of vaccines at the practice did not meet the required standards and the provider had not completed a documented health and safety premises/security risk assessment. A fire risk assessment was also not in place.

“Staff were acting as chaperones without training and there were no records to support the regular checking of oxygen and the defibrillator,” said the report.

A number of other issues were also highlighted.

“There were gaps in the recruitment systems of the practice,” it said.

“Safeguards, for example a full employment history, were not available for all members of staff."

It was also said that an accurate training record was not maintained and the provider could not evidence that all necessary training was completed.

“The provider was unable to demonstrate that all staff had completed the necessary training to the recommended levels," said the report.

“This included infection prevention and control training, fire training and child and adult safeguarding training. The provider could not demonstrate that staff had access to appraisals and supervisions as is necessary for them to be able to carry out the duties they are employed to perform.”

A spokesperson for the practice said: "The whole practice team at Farrow Medical Centre strives to provide excellent care for all our patients.

"We would like to apologise for any worry or distress that the findings of the recent CQC report have caused to our patients. Please be assured that we are taking the CQC findings seriously and have already made significant progress in improving the issues identified in the report.

"We are working hard to ensure that all the issues raised by the inspection are dealt with as rapidly as possible to ensure that we provide GP services which are of the highest standards for our patients.”