GP Practices in Launceston and Beaworthy are among those rated as requires improvement by the Care Quality Commission.

Launceston Medical Centre and Blake House Surgery in Beaworthy are both currently rated as “requires improvement” by the Care Quality Commission (CQC). 

CQC ratings are used to assess the overall quality of care at UK practices. Those being assessed can receive ratings along a four-point scale, ranking high to low as, outstanding, good, requires improvement, or inadequate.

Following their most recent inspections, both Launceston Medical Centre and Blake House were marked as requires improvement. 

In its report, Launceston Medical Centre was marked as “requires improvement” in two out of three assessment criteria, these being “Are services safe?” and “Are services well-led?”, while it received a “good” rating for “Are services effective?”

The report explained that “the way the practice was led and managed promoted the delivery of high-quality, person-centre care, however, not all aspects of the governance were managed appropriately and that caused some shortfalls in the managerial overview.” On top of this, “not all staff had their mandatory training up to date. That included Safeguarding and Basic Life Support training; the clinical staff did not have formal clinical supervision” and “the monitoring of some of the long term conditions needed reviewing,” among other issues.

However, the report also finds that “the practice provided care in a way that kept patients safe and protected them from avoidable harm, however we couldn't be assured this was maintained at all times; patients received effective care and treatment that met their needs” and “patients could access care and treatment in a timely way.”

Blake House Surgery in Beaworthy also received an overall rating of “requires improvement”, and received the same rating in two out of the three assessment criteria, these being “Are services safe?” and “Are services well-led?”, while “Are services effective?” was scored as “good”. 

The report produced following inspection explained that “staffing at Blake House Surgery was vulnerable due to the staff shortages and recruitment difficulties; the provider did not have clear safeguarding systems in place to keep patients safe. Not all staff were up to date with

the appropriate level of safeguarding training for their role” and “the practice did not have clear and effective governance processes and systems in place.”

Despite this however, CQC inspection also found that “the practice provided care in a way that kept patients safe and protected them from avoidable harm; patients received effective care and treatment that met their needs” and “staff dealt with patients with kindness and respect and involved them in decisions about their care. “

More information about these practices and others in your area can be found here.