A doctors' surgery in Kingston has been rated inadequate for its safety, and has been told it "requires improvement" regarding its effectiveness and leadership in a report by a health watchdog.

The St Albans Medical Centre in Richmond Road was visited by Care Quality Commission inspectors on October 11 last year where the practice was told it "requires improvement" on the whole.

In regards to safety, inspectors said: “Patients were at risk of harm because systems and processes were not in place to keep them safe.

“For example, appropriate recruitment checks on staff had not been undertaken prior to their employment, actions identified to address concerns with infection control practice had not been taken, and medicines were not always stored in accordance with legal requirements.”

The centre was found to have “clearly defined and embedded systems, processes and practices in place to keep patients safe and safeguarded from abuse; however, not all staff had received safeguarding training”.

General manager Milena Bodda said: “I think there is always room for improvement. I think there is little consideration of what we are doing well.”

In contrast to some of the negatives found in the report, the medical centre was rated as ‘good’ in the caring and responsive areas of the inspection.

The report found that the "majority of patients said they were treated with compassion, dignity and respect and that they felt cared for, supported and listened to.”

Patients told inspectors that they found it easy to make an appointment with a named GP and there was continuity of care.

The report also revealed that data from the national GP patient survey showed patients rated the practice higher than others for several aspects of care.