A health centre has been put into special measures this week following an inspection by the Care Quality Commission (CQC).

Willesborough Health Centre has been rated inadequate following the inspection on Monday, January 19.

While the centre in Bentley Road, in Willesborough in Ashford, was deemed good for caring services, it was considered inadequate for well-led and safe services, and required improvement for services that are effective and responsive to people’s needs.

The majority of patients said they were treated with compassion, dignity and respect, and the practice had good facilities and was well equipped to treat patients and meet their needs.

But other findings noted that risks to patients were not always assessed and well managed, that not all staff had received the relevant training to keep patients safe and that the practice did not maintain standards of cleanliness.

Professor Steve Field of the CQC said: "I am placing this service in special measures.

"Services placed in special measures will be inspected again within six months... Special measures will give people who use the service the reassurance that the care they get should improve."

In a statement on their website, the centre said: “We aim to provide the very best care for our patients and are therefore disappointed that following a recent CQC inspection, some of the policies and procedures at the practice have been found to be below their standards.

“We have worked hard to make improvements to our services since the CQC visit and have already addressed many of the areas identified by the CQC.

“While the latest CQC report has rated the practice as ‘good’ for providing a caring service to our patients, it has highlighted that there is further work we must do to improve our policies and procedures in order to support the best possible patient care.

“Our team at the practice is committed to making the necessary improvements for our patients and is already taking steps to address the areas where action is required, within the required timescales.”