Alton Street Surgery celebrates 'outstanding' result

Independent regulator the Care Quality Commission (CQC) has recently found the quality of care provided by Alton Street Surgery to be ‘outstanding’ following a routine inspection in April.

The practice in Ross-on-Wye provides primary medical care services to approximately 10,630 patients. They were previously rated ‘good’ by the CQC in 2014.

Inspectors found that the practice is providing an exemplary service to their patients, and awarded the ‘outstanding’ rating for being responsive and well-led.

Dr Philip Clayton, a GP at the surgery said: “This reflects a great deal of hard work by all of our staff and our practice manager, Jessica Embling. We would also like to thank our Patient Participation Group, who took time to meet the CQC inspectors, and regularly help us to review the care the practice provides.

“The inspectors were impressed by our links with the community, in particular addressing poor mental health, supporting projects such as the Ross Meeting Centre, for people with dementia and their carers. We promote wellbeing interventions, which help people maintain good health, and are pleased to be working closely with community groups.

“Our poetry group, set up some years ago in partnership with Ledbury Poetry Festival, still meets at the surgery regularly, and we plan to expand on this, with a forthcoming ArtSpace partnership with Mind, looking at how creativity can maintain good mental health. There are many other sources of community support in our vibrant town, and we are trying to make better connections between these and health and social care, for the benefit of our patients.”

Dr Dominic Horne, Clinical Vice Chair of NHS Herefordshire Clinical Commissioning Group, added: “We are extremely proud of all of the staff at Alton Street Surgery for achieving this result, which demonstrates the practice’s commitment to providing accessible, high quality health services for their patients.”

All England’s GP practices are given a rating according to whether they are safe, effective, caring, responsive and well-led. All reports are published on the CQC’s website www.cqc.org.uk.