A BRADFORD GP surgery has been awarded Practice of the Year Yorkshire by the Royal College of General Practitioners.

The accolade was given to the Ridge Medical Practice, of Cousen Road, Great Horton, at the Celebrating General Practice event in Leeds.

Practice partner Dr Amir Khan said all the partners and staff were thrilled to have been chosen to receive the award.

He said: "It really does recognise all the hard work our staff put in everyday and everything else we are doing to help improve the health of our community.

"We all hear about how difficult it is now to recruit and retain new GPs, the award recognises the hard work The Ridge is doing to train new staff for primary care.

"We have strong links with local universities and are training new GPs, medical students, nurses, health care assistants, physician associates, and admin staff and hopefully showing them how fulfilling a career in general practice can be.

"We have worked closely with the local Clinical Commissioning Group to put together pathways for children with asthma so they can be better managed at home and we have developed initiatives to identify and treat people early who have risk factors for strokes and heart attacks which have been proven to reduce numbers of deaths from these illnesses in the city.

"We are also working alongside Yorkshire Cancer Research and the University of Bradford, as well as community pharmacies on a project to encourage women from ethnic backgrounds to understand the importance of cancer screening and increase their uptake of breast, cervical and bowel screening.

"We see ourselves as more than just your usual GP practice, we are an integral part of the community we serve and the city we are in. A lot of us grew up here in Bradford and know the challenges some people can face, but being healthy is a big part to achieving your full potential and that is our main job."

Dr Khan is honorary senior lecturer at Leeds School of Medicine and honorary senior lecturer in primary care at the University of Bradford.