A GP surgery has turned its rating around from inadequate to good in the space of eight months.

Parkview Surgery in Cleckheaton was placed into special measures by the Care Quality Commission (CQC) following an inspection in December 2022. 

The watchdog's concerns centred on gaps in safeguarding systems and processes, recruitment checks for staff, and being unable to show that all staff had received the right training, supervision, and appraisals.

Now following an inspection in August, the surgery has been found to be good in every area – leading to an overall rating of good.

What the latest CQC report says 

In a report inspectors praised the surgery, stating: “The practice had been responsive to the findings of our previous inspections, and we found improvements to systems and processes in all areas of concern found at our previous inspections.

“In particular, safe recruitment, induction, appraisal and training, incident reporting, clinical workflow, premises, and facilities and systems to keep staff informed.

“We found from our remote clinical searches that the provider had made improvements with the proper and safe management of medicines, which included prescription stationery, patient-specific directions, patient safety alerts, medicines reviews, medicines requiring monitoring, and patients with long-term conditions.”

Statement from Parkview Surgery

A spokesperson for Parkview Surgery told the Telegraph & Argus: “We are delighted to report that following a comprehensive CQC reinspection the practice has been rated as good across all five domains.

“This is a reflection of the hard work and dedication of all the staff at Parkview Surgery.

“We would like to thank all our patients and particularly our Patient Participation Group for their continued support throughout this time.

“Parkview Surgery is fully committed to providing high quality, holistic, patient-centred care and we are pleased that this has been recognised by the Care Quality Commission.”

The report also added that there were systems in place to safeguard children and vulnerable adults from abuse and staff knew how to identify and report safeguarding concerns.

It stated that patients received effective care and treatment that met their needs; staff dealt with patients with kindness and respect and involved them in decisions about their care; and that patients could access care and treatment in a timely way.

The report went on to say that there was a programme of quality improvement and that the practice had established a governance and leadership structure to develop high-quality, person-centred care.

The recommendations that the CQC highlighted in last year’s report which led to the inadequate rating related to non-clinical management, with the surgery pointing out that there were no immediate concerns about patient safety.