A MEDICAL practice has come up with an ‘action plan’ to tackle issues raised by the healthcare watchdog.

Inspectors from the Care Quality Commission (CQC) visited the Gillies and Overbridge Medical Partnership, Brighton Hill, which is run by Acorn Health Partnership, on March 20 and 21, and have now issued it with a ‘requires improvement’ rating.

During the visit, inspectors found the patient safety was being put at risk amid concerns over how alerts from regulatory agencies over medicines and healthcare products were handled.

CQC inspectors also found that ‘people found it difficult to use the appointment system to access services by telephone,’ and ‘when people raised complaints or concerns, the practice did not always identify a way to improve their services.’

However, since the inspection, the Acorn Health Partnership, which runs the Sullivan Road facility, has said it has outlined where issues need to be addressed and will implement an action plan at the practice.

The CQC rated the practice ‘requires improvement’ in three of the five categories it inspects, with it being rated ‘good’ in effectiveness and caring.

The Acorn Health Partnership took over the running of the Brighton Hill facility as part of a merger with Camrose Medical Partnership, in South Ham, and The Hackwood Partnership, in Essex Road, last year.

A spokesperson for Acorn Health Partnership said: “The merger has been a huge undertaking but the team have responded well and we are continuing to work on improving our care to patients.

“We would like to thank our patients and members of staff for seeing us through this period of enormous change.”

The report read: “We found that the practice’s process to ensure medicines were stored securely was not consistent.

“The practice did not have a specific process or protocol for the monitoring of patients taking high risk medicines.”

However, the inspectors did praise staff at the practice in some aspects.

The report added: “Patients received effective care and treatment that met their needs.

“Staff involved and treated patients with compassion, kindness, dignity and respect.”