A GP surgery placed in special measures by the healthcare watchdog has made significant improvements.

Matching Green Surgery, in Fryerns, Basildon, was rated as “inadequate” – the lowest possible rating – and placed in special measures following a report in June 2022.

A Care Quality Commission inspection in June this year, and published today, has revealed a number of vital improvements have been made and the surgery is now rated as “good”.

The surgery had been told by the watchdog to improve the poor management of systems important to people’s safety, including the management of test results and high-risk medicines.

Matching Green’s ratings for safety and leadership were changed from “inadequate” to “good”, while its effectiveness rating was raised from “requires improvement” to “good”.

Hazel Roberts, CQC deputy director of operations in the east of England, said: “We saw that significant improvements had been made in response to concerns we raised at our last inspection.

“Leaders supported continual improvements to the service based on feedback from people using it, feedback from staff, and reviews of how effectively care was working.

“We did identify some areas that still need improvements, such as care for people with long-term conditions like asthma, ensuring all staff had adequate safeguarding training, and acting on safety alerts in line with national guidance. We shared these findings with leaders at the practice, who took immediate action.

“Everyone at Matching Green Surgery should be really proud of the improvements they’ve made. We’ve shared our findings with them so that they can continue to build on the improvements we saw, and we will continue to monitor the service to make sure these changes are sustained long term.”

The watchdog’s report found an “open and positive culture of safety” at the GP where staff “took all concerns seriously” to keep people safe.

The surgery was praised for the positive feedback it received in the National GP Patient Survey and NHS Friends and Family Test, especially staff’s treatment of patients and how they involved them in decisions on their care.

Staff adapting to meet the needs of patients, including longer appointment times for those with mental health conditions or learning disabilities, was also praised in the watchdog’s findings.