Peterborough medical centres rated as Good 8 months after being placed in special measures

Two Peterborough medical centres have received a Good rating from the Care Quality Commission after being placed in special measures eight months ago.

Both Bretton Medical Centre and Park Medical Centre, which are managed by Bretton Park Healthcare, were rated as inadequate by a CQC report published in February but carried out in November 2022.

The result saw the provider placed into special measures which it promised to exit after drawing up a “focused action plans to improve safety and efficiency."

Following the latest inspection of the medical centres in August, they have now both received a rating of Good from the commission in the areas of Safe, Effective, Caring and Well-led as well as overall. Both, however, remain rated as Requires Improvement in the area Responsive.

The report noted a number of improvements since the previous inspection which found significant concerns and poor governance systems relating to the services delivered to patients.

It noted that a number of new systems to ensure services were delivered in a safe and effective way to patients had been out in place and that these were regularly monitored for improvements.

The report further stated: “The practice provided care in a way that kept patients safe and protected them from avoidable harm. Staff dealt with patients with kindness and respect and involved them in decisions about their care.

"We saw that the practice offered a range of appointments including extended and weekend appointments, some of which took place at the practice.

"The GP partners had additional protect time to ensure the overall governance arrangements and processes for managing risks, issues and performance were reviewed regularly and were effective. Staff told us there were more meetings that they were invited to and that their well-being was considered.”

The surgeries remained rated as Requires Improvement in the category of Responsive due to concerns about the phone lines, which the surgeries said remained the most negative area of feedback due to a new telephone system not being due to be installed until the autumn.

Moving forward, the report stressed that the medical centres should continue to monitor patient feedback to improve patient satisfaction on accessing the practice; along with monitoring the new system for annual recalls and reviews to provide patients with appropriate on-going care, continuing to encourage patients to attend their appointments for the national cervical cancer screening programme and to continue to monitor and improve the coding of medical records to provide accurate information within the medical records.