A BRADFORD GP practice has been told to improve and branded ‘inadequate’ for safety by the health watchdog.

Inspectors from the Care Quality Commission (CQC) inspected Hollyns Health & Wellbeing, which has two sites based in Clayton and Allerton, on June 22 and 23.

They said the practice was rated as ‘good’ in 2016 for providing safe services, but this inspection saw that key inspection category drop to the lowest rating.

A report from the inspection raised several concerns, including assessments across both sites which revealed action was needed over the risk of legionella.

Inspectors said: “The assessment noted there was a significant risk of exposure to legionella bacteria and identified a number of measures that should be urgently addressed.

“A member of the management team told us of the actions which had been undertaken by the team such as the flushing of infrequently used outlets weekly and monitoring of water temperatures.

“No further action had been taken in response to the reports and the team told us they had not been able to move the concerns forward with the landlords of the buildings. No further plans were in place to address these issues.”

On the day of the inspection, five staff were out of date with their infection prevention and control training, while rooms were “cluttered to a degree which would make appropriate leaning difficult and pose an infection risk to patients”.

Inspectors also saw the interiors of three vaccine refrigerators were “visibly dirty” and were told the cleaning of these would be included in new cleaning schedules to be implemented by the nursing time.

The report added: “At the time of our inspection, the provider could not assure themselves of the timely management of test results.

“For example, we saw that action was not taken in a timely manner in response to blood results or when a follow-up was required.”

There were “several” examples of patients who needed additional or further monitoring, which had not been completed.

However, inspectors said the practice had completed many wellbeing calls to patients during the pandemic; staff dealt with patients with kindness and respect; there was a “cohesive and supportive staff team” and the practice had adjusted how it delivered services to meet the needs of patients during the pandemic.

The practice was rated ‘requires improvement’ overall and in the categories of effective; responsive and well-led, ‘good’ for caring and ‘inadequate’ for safe.

The Telegraph & Argus approached the practice for a comment but was told the relevant person was not available to speak to.