A busy Richmond doctors’ surgery has been rated ‘requires improvement’ in the latest independent report.

Seymour House Surgery, in Sheen Road, has around 14,000 patients and was rated ‘good’ in the previous inspection in 2015, before the Care Quality Commission changed how it evaluates practices.

In the report published on February 9, the surgery was measured on its effectiveness, caring attitude, management, and responsiveness to patients needs, as well as safety.

The surgery was found to be in breach of regulation 12 (1) of the Health and Social Care Act 2008 (Regulated Activities) Regulations 2014 for not ensuring infection prevention and control methods were effective.

This was because it did not “conduct regular infection prevention and control audits” and was therefore “unable to demonstrate that the risk of infection was adequately managed”.

The inspector also found that “childhood immunisations and cervical screening were below target” and said systems to manage risk “were not always applied consistently”.

They added “when incidents did happen… the practice did not always keep complete and contemporaneous records of the action that had been taken.”

On a more positive note, staff were said to learn from major incidents.

The report said: “Following an incident where an urgent referral relating to a possible cancer diagnosis was delayed, the practice introduced a system for logging and reviewing all possible cancer referrals to ensure that the patient received a hospital appointment.”

The practice was also praised for it’s “kindness respect and compassion” and for “responding to and meeting people’s needs” – receiving a rating of ‘good’ in both these areas.

It was found to deliver tailored services to patients in difficult personal circumstances, including “homeless people and those with a learning disability” and “women escaping from domestic violence”.

No one was available for comment at Seymour House Surgery.