Good rating for Strawberry Hill Medical Centre

CQC praises leadership and quality of care

NEWBURY’S Strawberry Hill Medical Centre has been rated good, but its treatment of people with long-term conditions needs improving, inspectors have said.

The Care Quality Commission (CQC) comments follow an announced inspection in May, which rated the assessment categories of safe effective caring and responsive, as good.

Inspectors said that leadership at the practice was outstanding, with “compassionate, inclusive and effective leadership at all levels”, with leaders having “a clear vision and strategy to provide high quality care”.

Strawberry Hill Medical Centre opened in April 2016, following the merger of St Marys Road Surgery and Northcroft Surgery.

The practice had approximately 21,742 patients at the time of the inspection.

The CQC report, published in July, said Strawberry Hill provided care that kept patients safe and protected them from avoidable harm, providing treatment and care which met their needs.

Staff were found to treat patients with kindness and respect and patients could access care and treatment in a timely way.

The treatment of patients with long-term conditions was rated as requires improvement for its effectiveness, but the treatment of people who could be vulnerable was graded as outstanding for providing effective and responsive services.

Inspectors said that the practice worked with other agencies to ensure vulnerable patients were identified and had access to quality care and treatment.