A Wiltshire GP practice, Patford House Partnership has been rated as 'good' by the Care Quality Commission on 29 and 30 March this year, following the last report which rated the practice as being 'inadequate'.

The CQC’s last inspection of the practice in Calne was carried out on 5 May 2021 and 10 May 2021 and identified several areas which needed work.

This included an oversight in mitigating risk in fire procedures, prescription security, lack of training for staff to use an evacuation chair, a backlog in clinical coding of patient records, ineffective systems to monitor patient access and ensure care and treatment was accessible, and the practice had not received a Disclosure and Barring Service (DBS) check for staff.

But now that Patford House has received the news that their standards have improved, they are hoping patients will also notice the difference.

Dr Simon Church, a Senior GP Partner, said: “We are pleased the improvements of the last 12 months have been formally recognised by the healthcare regulator, and we hope our patients have noticed the changes, too.”

The inspection team found significant improvements had been made over the last 12 months and reported that they saw first-hand that staff were working in ways that kept patients safe and protected from avoidable harm.

However, inspectors did find areas still in need of further work, which the practice has said will be addressed as part of the ongoing improvement journey.

Dr Church added: “Even before our first CQC visit, following our merger, we knew improvements were necessary, and it has been a real team effort to drive these forward.

“There is more to do, and we are committed to resolving all remaining issues as quickly and as safely as we possibly can, so we can provide our registered patients with a safe, friendly and reliable GP service.”

Dr Andrew Girdher, CCG Clinical Chair, said: “Patford House Surgery has made several positive changes in recent months, all of which have helped the practice to improve on its previous CQC rating.

“We’re in regular contact with the team and are fully aware that while today’s announcement is good news, some areas still need addressing, which is why we will continue to provide support where it’s needed, as well as offer helpful challenges so that we can be sure that patients are receiving the best possible service.”