A GP practice has managed to exit special measures after it proved to have addressed key areas of concern previously outlined by the Care Quality Commission (CQC).
Thornton Lodge Surgery (Dr Hafiz Rehman) in Huddersfield, West Yorkshire was deemed ‘inadequate’ by the CQC in May 2017 after the CQC found that it had health and safety-related issues.
Following a more recent inspection in November 2017, the CQC decided to improve the practice’s rating after it found proof of improvements.
After the inspection in November 2017, the practice was rated ‘good’ for ‘safe’, ‘caring’, ‘responsive’ and ‘well-led’. However, the practice was still rated as ‘requires improvement’ for ‘effective’ because the CQC found that it has to provide better care to patients with long-term conditions and with poor mental health.
Thornton Lodge Surgery is located in a densely populated and deprived area. It provides services for 2,446 patients and has two GP locums to cover the clinical sessions that Dr Rehman, the sole provider of the service, is not available to cover.
CQC’s head of general practice in the north of England Beverley Cole said: ‘At an inspection at the start of 2017 we did not believe that Dr Hafiz Rehman’s practice was likely to resolve its challenges without being placed into special measures.’
‘The improvements that the provider has made are impressive, and now they must prove that they are able to sustain them over time.’
Among the improvements that the CQC recorded, the practice had managed to have systems in place to minimise risks to patients and staff was knowledgeable on how to deliver effective care and treatment.
Commenting on the report, practice manager Tanvir Hussain said: ‘We are very happy with the CQC report. The CQC had previously outlined some areas we had to improve and we have now managed to address the issues they had raised at a previous inspection successfully.
‘For instance, we had no electrical check before and were not aware that we were supposed to have one done every five years.’
