The Care Quality Commission (CQC) has found significant improvements at Harris Memorial Surgery in the Redruth area, and upgraded its overall rating from inadequate to good following an inspection in January. The surgery has also been removed from special measures.

Harris Memorial Surgery is run by an organisation of the same name and provides services to around 6,300 people in Cornwall.

This inspection was carried out to follow up on improvements the service was told to make following a previous inspection when CQC found three breaches of regulations around safe care and treatment, effective systems and processes, and safe recruitment practices. This latest inspection found the practice is no longer in breach of any regulations.

As well as the service’s overall rating improving from inadequate to good, so has how well-led the service is. The practice’s ratings for how effective and responsive it is have improved from “requires improvement” to good. The practice has again been rated as good for caring.

Process improvements implemented to keep people safe came in for particular praise, including a clear process enabling staff to prioritise people with the most urgent needs. Leaders had also implemented systems to assess, monitor and manage other risks to people’s safety.

CQC deputy director of operations Cath Campbell said: “People consistently told us they felt listened to and were involved in decisions that affected them.” She added that some areas still needed improvement - including documentation, with a backlog of 333 new patient records waiting to be summarised - but that leaders had begun to address these issues.

“The staff and leaders at Harris Memorial Surgery should be proud of the hard work they’ve put in and the improvements they’ve made to people’s care. We’ll continue to monitor the service to ensure these improvements are sustained long term.”