A GP surgery serving 3,500 people has been told it needs to improve by a health watchdog.

Wallis Avenue Surgery was inspected by the Care Quality Commission (CQC) earlier this year and given a requires improvement rating.

In its report the organisation said the practice, in Wallis Avenue, was unable to demonstrate it was fully compliant with national guidance on preventing infections.

Not all staff were up to date on infection control training and some did not have up-to-date basic life support training.

A backlog of paper communications were found dating back to 2012 that had yet to be scanned into the surgery’s patient records system.

Inspectors also raised a number of issues with how the results of clinical audits were shared with staff and how it was tackling improvements suggested by patient surveys.

But the CQC said services were caring and responsive to patients’ needs, people were satisfied with the care they were given and online booking systems for appointments and prescriptions worked well.

An exclusive KM investigation earlier this year revealed patients at the Park Wood surgery faced the toughest competition to see a doctor. There was one registered GP serving 3,534 people.

The report makes clear the surgery also relies on locum doctors and there is also an acting practice manager, a practice nurse and healthcare assistant.

Inspectors found little difficulty making appointments at the time of their assessment.

Patients told inspectors they were treated with compassion, dignity and respect.

They also said they were involved in decisions about their care and treatment and confidentiality was maintained at all times.

The watchdog examined 22 patient comment cards, 19 of which were positive about services.

Patients indicated they felt the practice offered an excellent service and staff were caring and efficient.

The surgery was approached for comment but could not provide one at the time of publication. The inspection was carried out as part of a new CQC programme.