Local Haverhill GP Surgery receives an improved rating by the Care Quality Commission (CQC)


Following a Care Quality Commission (CQC) inspection held on 21st August 2019, Christmas Maltings, Clements and Kedington Surgery has been rated ‘Requires Improvement’.

Among the reasons for the Surgery’s improved rating the CQC highlights:

  • Improvements had been made in relation to information to deliver safe care and treatment.
  • Patients were given appropriate and timely information to cope emotionally with their care, treatment or condition.
  • The practice demonstrated commitment to using data and information to support their decision making.
  • The quality of care was improved by listening and responding to complaints.

Dr Tom Curtis, Primary Care Medical Director for the Suffolk GP Federation, was delighted with the news. He said: 

“The CQC have recognised the progress we have made at the Surgery this year and this is a testament to our extremely hardworking, dedicated staff. We recognise that we still have improvements to make, but we have ambitious plans for the future.

“Key medicines safety and safeguarding systems have been recognised as robust, and we therefore have a secure platform to build from.  We have to look at new ways of working in the light of an ongoing GP recruitment and retention crisis, and we are optimistic that eConsult will facilitate more convenient access to our well-regarded team.”

Lois Wreathall, Head of Primary Care, NHS West Suffolk Clinical Commissioning Group, said:

“It is certainly pleasing to see that positive progress is being made and that services have been given an overall ‘good’ rating for their safety. There is certainly more work to be done and we know that staff are working hard to deliver the required improvements for their patients. We want people in Haverhill to be able to access the best possible primary care and we will continue to support the practice over the coming months.”

Andy Yacoub (Chief Executive of Healthwatch Suffolk) said: 

“It is good news that the practice has improved and is now rated as ‘Requires Improvement’. This can only be a positive development for people in the local area and also for staff working at the practice, which faces some unique local challenges. From our perspective, it is also pleasing to note that the CQC has identified improvement with respect to patient complaint responses.

“With all of this considered, there is of course still room for improvements to be made at this practice. We want to support this and have been talking to the Suffolk GP Federation about ongoing opportunities to engage patients about their experiences. This includes making sure that people are aware of the opportunity to feedback direct to us by having a clear route to our Feedback Centre from its website. We believe strongly that a continued focus on listening to people’s views, and learning from them, will support service planning in response to this latest inspection outcome. Importantly, it will be essential that the practice is transparent and communicates with local people about all of the things it is doing to respond to their feedback.”

The CQC previously rated Christmas Maltings, Clements and Kedington Surgery ‘Inadequate’ after their inspection in January 2019.

The CQC carries out regular, planned inspections of GP practices across the Country and provide detailed feedback and overall ratings; Inadequate, Requires Improvement, Good or Outstanding.

Individual ratings for Christmas Maltings, Clements & Kedington Surgery were:

  • Are services safe? – Good
  • Are services effective? – Requires improvement
  • Are services caring? – Requires improvement
  • Are services responsive? – Inadequate
  • Are services well-led? – Requires improvement

The full report can be read here.

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