Oakham Medical Practice rated as 'good' and removed from special measures

A surgery has been taken out of special measures after inspectors recognised that standards have improved.

Oakham Medical Practice was rated as 'good' overall following an inspection in November.

Four months earlier the Care Quality Commission had rated it as 'inadequate'.

The provider was given six months to improve or face action to prevent it from operating its services.

Inspectors found that significant changes have been made to ensure the surgery's care is effective, well-led and responsive to people's needs.

The only aspect which is still said to require improvement is whether health services are safe, with a particular issue around asthma medication.

The report said: "We identified some concerns in respect of medicines management, although there was significant improvement noted since our previous inspection.

"We required further assurance that safety alerts were being fully acted upon."

The surgery cares for 15,147 patients with five GP partners, four salaried GPs, two advanced nurse practitioners, seven nurses, four health care assistants, a phlebotomist and two pharmacists.

The partners said: "We are delighted that the report confirms we have gone from a position of inadequate to an overall rating of good. This means we are seen as performing well and meeting expectations.

"While we recognise there are improvements that we can continue to make, we feel this rating acknowledges the hard work undertaken by our staff, Patient Participation Group, patients and stakeholders over the last few months.

"We addressed each and every recommendation to make the improvements to the services we provide for our patients, ensuring they are safe, effective, responsive, well-led and caring.

"We strive for continued improvements and will carry on our work to address the further recommendations made in this follow-up report ensuring that care and treatment is always provided in a safe way to our patients."