Farnborough surgery "requires improvement".

A Farnborough doctors’ surgery has been told it must improve after an inspection by the Care Quality Commission (CQC).

North Camp Surgery had previously been asked by NHS England to not carry out any immunisations until the outcome of an investigation.

The surgery was inspected for safety, effectiveness, care, response and leadership.

Although it was rated ‘good’ in effectiveness, care and response, it was judged as ‘requiring improvement’ in safety and leadership, giving an overall rating of Requiring Improvement.

A report said that the surgery needed to improve its services to older people, people with long-term conditions; families, children and young people and those experiencing poor mental health.

However, CQC inspectors found the practice to be good for providing effective, caring and responsive services.

The inspection report said that staff had responded to the needs of an increasing local Nepalese population by employing a Nepalese-speaking receptionist. Two GPs also spoke Nepalese.

Patients were complimentary about their care but several areas were identified where improvements were needed.

The surgery was told it must have policies and risk assessments in place for detecting and controlling the spread of infections and for safe use of the equipment.

It was also told it must have an automated external defibrillator (AED) and that staff need to handle prescription forms consistently in accordance with national guidance. This was because inspectors found that keys were not always restricted while forms were locked away and forms were not tracked through the practice.

The report said: “Staff understood their responsibilities to raise concerns, and to report incidents and near misses. However, when things went wrong, reviews and investigations were not thorough enough and lessons learned were not communicated widely enough to support improvement.

“We found areas of concern in recruitment, infection control, medicine management, anticipating events and the management of unforeseen circumstances.

“The practice had good facilities and was well equipped to treat patients and meet their needs. Information about how to complain was available and easy to understand and evidence showed that the practice responded quickly to issues raised.”

The surgery has now been cleared by NHS England to carry out immunisations once further training has been completed.