A BRADFORD medical practice has been placed in special measures following an inspection from the Care Quality Commission (CQC).

Park Grange Medical Centre, Woodhead Road, Lidget Green, was judged to be ‘inadequate’ overall by the health watchdog following a visit in September.

In assessing the safety of the service, the report outlines the practice had “failed to assess, monitor and mitigate serious risks relating to the health, safety and welfare of service users and others who used the premises”.

The report also said a building extension was in use - despite being an “extreme” health and safety risk. Following the inspection, the practice was told it must not use the extension without prior written agreement of the CQC.

And when looking at how well led the service is, which was also rated as inadequate, the report says fire and and building risk assessments were not up to date and several members of staff did not have a written contract of employment. Those staff had not received an induction plan, mandatory training, documented supervision or an appraisal of their performance since the beginning of their employment.

However, Park Grange was rated ‘good’ in categories relating to how caring the service and how responsive it is to people’s needs. The report outlines inspectors spoke to patients during the inspection, who said they were treated with “compassion, dignity and respect and were involved in their care and decisions about their treatment”.

Alison Holbourn, Deputy Chief Inspector of General Practice for the North, said:

“It is important that the people who are registered with the Park Grange Medical Centre can rely on getting high quality care. It is disappointing that in both safety and leadership this practice was failing. The surgery's safety was seriously compromised by ongoing building work. There are positive aspects for this service, both caring and responsiveness were rated as good."

She added that it will be inspected again within six months and said: "The service will be kept under review and if needed could be escalated to urgent enforcement action and if there is not enough improvement we will move to close the service.”

Dr Mohammad Azam, Senior GP Partner at Park Grange Medical Practice, said:

“The health, care and welfare of patients attending the surgery are very important to us. We are taking the Care Quality Commission’s findings seriously and have already made significant progress on improving the issues outlined. These include ensuring patient and staff safety during essential building works at the practice. "There are now no immediate concerns with regard to safety at the surgery and patients should visit the practice as normal."

Mr Azam added the practice is working closely with NHS Bradford City Clinical Commissioning Group to make further progress and it is committed to providing GP services of the "highest possible standard".