A SWINDON medical practice is among the latest surgeries to have been awarded a ‘Good’ rating under the Care Quality Commission’s new programme.

Moredon Medical Centre was inspected by the CQC at the beginning of August, and on Thursday inspectors published their report, awarding the practice a Good rating.

Under CQC’s new programme of inspections, all of England’s GP practices are being given a rating according to whether they are “safe, effective, caring, responsive and well-led”.

The inspection came as a follow-up on actions identified during a previous inspection carried out in October of last year when the CQC called for an improvement in recruitment procedures, communication with staff and staff training and improving quality assurance processes.

Professor Steve Field, chief inspector of general practice, said: “Specifically, we found the practice to be good for providing safe and well-led services.”

He added the inspection showed that staff understood and fulfilled their responsibilities, risks to patients were assessed and managed appropriately, while the surgery had suitable facilities and was well-equipped to treat patients.

He said: “We know that the vast majority of England’s GPs are providing a service which is safe, effective, caring, responsive and well-led.

“If that is what we find on inspection, we give it a rating of Good, and I congratulate the GPs and members of staff in these practices.

“Patients should be able to expect high quality and consistent care from every GP practice. Where we have required improvement, we will expect the practice to take the necessary steps to address the issue, and we will return at a later date to check that those improvements have been made.

“If we find a practice to be inadequate, we will put it into special measures to allow the practice to access support available from NHS England and to ensure there is a coordinated response to help it improve.”