Banbury surgery raises game but still requires improvement

Horsefair Surgery was reinspected by the Care Quality Commission in December and has been upgraded to ‘requires improvement’ rather than ‘inadequate’.

Inspector Prof Steve Field said: “We received mixed feedback from patients.

“There was positive feedback regarding staff and care but also negative feedback regarding access to the phone lines and appointments, which had affected some patients’ care.

“Clinical outcomes in national data submissions showed improved performance in some areas, particularly long-term medicine reviews.

“However, the process for reviewing patients with long term conditions was not adequate as some patients had not received a review in over three years.”

Horsefair service safety was rated good; effectiveness – requires improvement; caring services – good; responsive services – requires improvement.

The area of well-led services was rated ‘requires improvement’.

As part of the inspection process the CQC also looked at the quality of care for specific population groups.

Service groups requiring improvement were older people, children, families and young people, those with long-term conditions, working people, those whose circumstances may make them vulnerable and those with mental health problems.

Improvement plans were being implemented and were showing advances in the areas of concern identified at the previous inspections.

To read the report, visit http://www.cqc.org.uk/sites/default/files/new_reports/AAAG9542.pdf.