Surgery takes steps to improve

AN OLDHAM GP surgery has been taken out of special measures by the Care Quality Commission, however must continue to make improvements to its service.

Dr Mohua Chowdhury, based at the Integrated Care Centre, was rated as "inadequate" following an inspection in November last year.

The practice has now been reinspected and improved its rating to "requires improvement" overall, achieving a rating of "good" in responsive and leadership categories.

Inspectors highlighted risks to patients were assessed and well managed with care delivered in line with current evidence-based guidance.

The report continued: "Staff had been trained to provide them with the skills, knowledge and experience to deliver effective care and treatment.

"Patients commented they were treated with compassion, dignity and respect and they were involved in their care and decisions about their treatment."

The report added that the practice had good facilities and improvements were made to the quality of care as a result of complaints and concerns.

However, inspectors added that there were areas where the provider still needed to make urgent improvements.

Screening

These included ensuring appropriate recruitment checks were carried out for all new staff and providing employees with appropriate support to carry out their role.

In addition, the surgery was told it should monitor patient outcomes and health screening data and have plans to improve them and explore ways of engaging with patients.

The report continued: "This service has been taken out of special measures. This recognises the significant improvements made to the quality of care by this service."

A spokesperson for the practice said: "We are a bit disappointed about the rating of requires improvement but we have taken the comments from the inspectors on board and are looking forward.

"We have a dedicated team of staff who put the health of patients first and we have made a lot of improvements to the practice since our last inspection, adding in new systems and checks as required.

"An inspection by the CQC is eye opening for anyone and we hope that by the time of our next inspection we will have made more improvements and will be rated good.

"If patients want to speak to us about more improvements we could make, we would be happy to hear from them."