A FAMILY-RUN surgery that offers training for future GPs has been slammed in its most recent inspection by the national health watchdog.

Green Meadows Surgery in Winkfield Road, Ascot has been rated ‘inadequate’ by the Care Quality Commission, (CQC), the independent regulator of all health and social care services in England.

This means it has now been put into ‘special measures’ and will now be given a six-month period to develop and put an action plan in place to improve services.

Inspectors felt the practice did not offer safe services and did not have an effective enough plan in place to ensure that cleanliness was maintained and that the risk of infection was assessed and controlled.

Its health and safety policy did not meet requirements and there were no records of any checks of the building or the environment and not all members of staff had had the right checks before they started.

Specific services provided by the surgery include those for older people, patients with long-term conditions, families, children and young people, working age people, vulnerable patients and those with poor mental health include those suffering from dementia.

No clear leadership structure was found and staff told inspectors they felt undervalued.

Some staff also said they weren’t supported enough to do their roles despite some training taking place. and though some training had taken place, there was limited evidence to confirm this and employees had not received regular training updates, for example in infection control and the Mental Health Capacity Act.

A spokesperson for the surgery said: “The CQC report for our practice rates our services as good for caring for patients. We do and will continue to put patients first ensuring we provide care with compassion, dignity and respect. Unfortunately, some issues around leadership and monitoring the safety of services were found during inspection.

"We will work with NHS England and Bracknell and Ascot Clinical Commissioning Group and have support from the Royal College of General Practitioners. The practice will then be re-inspected in six months. We’d like to reassure our patients about our services and our commitment to continue to provide the high levels of care, which our patients expect. We are confident have confidence that we can quickly address the issues raised and we’d like to thank the PPG and all our patients for their continued support.”