A GP surgery in Dudley has been placed into special measures after the overall quality of care was found to be 'inadequate'.

Dudley Partnerships for Health LLP has six months to tackle issues highlighted by the Care Quality Commission (CQC), following an inspection in February.

The Quarry Road surgery was rated 'inadequate' for providing safe services that were well led and 'requires improvement' for being responsive, caring and effective.

Although inspectors found staff were "courteous and helpful" to patients both visiting the surgery and on the telephone, there were "significant areas of concern" as "care and treatment was not always delivered in line with best practice".

The report states: "During the inspection we found that the practice was not operating an effective system with regards to monitoring high risk medicines.

"We also identified a back-log of blood test results for review on the clinical system, which demonstrated that the practice had failed to follow appropriate protocols with regards to the management of pathology results."

Janet Williamson, deputy chief inspector of general practice and dentistry in CQC’s central region said: “It is important that the people who are registered with Dudley Partnerships for Health LLP can rely on getting the high quality care which everyone is entitled to receive from their GP.

“We know Dudley Partnerships for Health LLP has acknowledged the areas where action must be taken.

“We will continue to monitor this practice and we will inspect again in six months to check whether improvements have been made.

"I am hopeful that the practice will do what is required for the sake of its patients, but if we find that the service remains inadequate, we will consider taking further action.”

The surgery's practice manager told the News: “The quality and standard of care that we provide to our patients is important to us.

"We were disappointed with the reports overall findings and in response to the inspection we immediately took action to address the inspector's concerns.

"If any of our patients have any concerns they should contact the practice where we will be happy to discuss these.”