A HARLOW surgery has been highly praised by the Care Quality Commission (CQC).

Nuffield House in The Stow was inspected on November 15th, 2021.

Its official rating is Good.

In October 2020 it was rated as Requires Improvement.

The report states:

0. The breaches found in the previous inspection had been complied with and actioned. The practice provided care in a way that kept patients safe and protected them from avoidable harm.
   • Diabetic patients were identified, and their treatment and monitoring was well managed.
   • Patients prescribed high risk medicines had been reviewed regularly and monitoring was well documented.
   • Prescribing guidelines were being followed and processes to monitor prescribing had been improved throughout thepractice.
   • Patients received effective care and treatment that met their needs. The patient records we reviewed remotely showedcare pathways and protocols were well managed and followed.
   • Staff dealt with patients with kindness and respect and involved them in decisions about their care. This was explained to us when we spoke with patients when we visited the practice.
   • The practice adjusted how it delivered services to meet the needs of patients during the COVID-19 pandemic.
   • Patients could access care and treatment throughout the pandemic in a timely way.
   • The way the practice managed, promoted, and delivered high-quality, person-centre care. This was seen in thenumerous improvements undertaken since the previous inspection. Whilst we found no breaches of regulations, the provider should:
   • Continue to improve the effectiveness of their two weeks wait process.
   • Continue to improve the areas of negative variations of patient satisfaction in the GP patient survey.
   • We found an area of outstanding practice:

The provider had pro-actively sought out care and treatment opportunities to improve the quality of services delivered to their patients throughout the Covid-19 restrictions.

Other than for a period of one week, the practice remained open to patients so that they could attend the surgery in person, to receive care and treatment and to book appointments.

They also introduced extra communication measures to keep in touch with care homes, domiciliary, and social care to provide a person-centred continuous service.

This initiative resulted in the practice being awarded a ‘Hidden Heroes’ award for outstanding performance during the Covid-19 pandemic.

The full report can be found here

https://api.cqc.org.uk/public/v1/reports/4a1243cb-b57a-4da6-860c-f081bd5eaf33?20211209102033