AN Oldham GP surgery has been rated as “inadequate” and placed in special measures following an inspection by the Care Quality Commission.

Inspectors discovered out-of-date syringes and child safeguarding issues when they inspected Oldham Family Practice.

The GP surgery, based at the Integrated Care Centre, in New Radcliffe Street, was found to be inadequate in safety, effectiveness and leadership.

It was also found to require improvement in care and responsiveness.

Inspectors found that the practice did not have adequate systems to safeguard children and vulnerable adults from abuse, with GPs not attending any formal safeguarding meetings and there was no system in place to follow up children who did not attend appointments. The inspection report said: “We saw an example where the practice had been told a baby had child protection issues.

“They had been given an appointment for the eight-week check and did not attend.

“This was not followed up for two weeks.”

Inspectors added that coding errors meant that the practice had no record of parental responsibility or family situation for two looked-after children.

Inspectors also discovered that not all staff had received appropriate training in safeguarding and not all staff who acted as chaperones had received a Disclosure and Barring Service (DBS) check.

Inspectors also raised concerns with equipment and facilities safety.

The report said: “There were systems for safely managing healthcare waste. However, we found 24 out-of-date syringes stored with in-date syringes in a clinical room. One of these had an expiry date of October, 2015.”

Inspectors also found that significant events at the practice were not always handled correctly or investigated properly, including one issue when documents had been scanned on to the incorrect patient’s records.

However, results from the annual GP patient survey found that patients felt they were treated with “compassion, dignity and respect” at the surgery.

CQC inspectors have said the service must take action to improve in key areas.

A spokesman for NHS Oldham Clinical Commissioning Group, which Oldham Family Practice is a member of, said: “We are keen to reiterate that there are no immediate risks to patient safety. We also welcome the news that local GPs, Dr Zubair Ahmad, Dr Salim Mohammad and Dr Andrew Vance have agreed to take Oldham Family Practice forward following the departure of the previous leadership team.”