‘Good’ medical centre out of special measures
‘Significant improvements’
AN UNDER-fire medical centre, which had been plunged into special measures after being rated ‘inadequate’, has made ‘significant improvements’ according to a health watchdog.
Gosport’s Bridgemary Medical Centre has been rated ‘good’ following its latest inspection by the Care Quality Commission (CQC) and has been removed from special measures.
CQC monitors praised the health hub for taking steps to overhaul its services following a damning judgement almost two years ago.
Speaking of the improvements, Dr Manir Hussain, deputy chief inspector for primary medical services at the CQC, said: ‘I am pleased to report that significant improvements have been made at Bridgemary Medical Centre.
‘The overall culture has improved and stronger leadership has resulted in better strategic planning as well as the introduction of effective systems to identify and manage risks.’
In 2019 the centre vowed to improve after being judged inadequate. The report at the time said inspectors found the site did not have clear systems and processes to keep patients safe and care and treatment was not delivered in line with legislation.
Following the latest report the facility was celebrated for the ‘way the practice was led’ and the ‘delivery of highquality, person-centred care’.
The report also commended the practice for the delivery of services to meet patients’ needs and the ‘timely way in which patients could access care and treatment’ along with the ‘caring way’ in which services were provided.
Dr Hussain added: ‘The practice is now providing care in a way that keeps patients safe and protected from avoidable harm. As a result, it has now been removed from special measures which were put in place.’
The centre was rated good in all areas apart from effectiveness of services which were identified as requiring improvement.
The report stated: ‘Not all the patients on the learning disability register had received an annual health check, although there has been some improvement in the number of these carried out since the last inspection.’
The report also highlighted that the uptake of cervical screening was 69.5 per cent which was based on the most recent June data, which is lower than the national target of 80 per cent.