An NHS surgery in Ealing has claimed there are no safety concerns after it was given the lowest rating by the Care Quality Commission (CQC) following an inspection.
Lynwood Surgery, in Lynwood Road, was rated as "inadequate" after a visit on August 4.
The CQC has four possible ratings of either "outstanding", "good, "requires improvement" or "inadequate".
In the CQC report published on Thursday (November 24), it outlines a lack of infection control management, flaws in reporting incidents and patients were "at risk of harm because systems and processes were not in place in a way to keep them safe".
Although patients were "positive" about their interactions with staff, the report also revealed no fire drills were taking place and the surgery had not reviewed the "needs of its local population".
Staff had not received regular performance reviews, the inspectors held, and some of them did not know how to recognise signs of abuse in vulnerable adults and children, the report adds.
In one case a patient who was on medication, which required annual blood tests, was last tested three years ago but the practice had continued to prescribe the medication.
The report stated a week before the inspection the vaccines fridge had been indicating a maximum temperature of around 12C, which is over the recommended 2C to 8C.
But despite a warning from an engineer to replace the thermometers, because they were giving false readings, it was found the surgery had not made the change on the day of the inspection.
In a statement to patients, the surgery, which was caring for 2,160 patients at the time of inspection, claimed there are no safety concerns.
The statement read: "During that inspection last August it was found that Lynwood Surgery did not meet in full all of the required criteria resulting in the practice being categorised as (inadequate).
"The CQC has recommended a number of changes in order to ensure the practice meets the current standards and we are working with partner NHS organisations to ensure that the practice is fully compliant.
"We are fully committed to providing the best GP services possible to our patients.
"There are no concerns for patient safety at this practice".
The practice is expected to have met the CQC's recommendations by March 31 next year.
Commenting on the report, general practitioner Dr Mohammad Alzarrad, who took over the surgery in September following the retirement of Dr Haider Al-Hasani, said: "Since then (the report) we have changed a lot of things.
"Our message is there are no safety issues with our patients and we will be improving our services.
"We have already contacted CQC about our changes.
"If they came now we would have passed".
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