HEALTH inspectors who swooped on a doctors' surgery have declared it to be providing outstanding care to patients.

The team of experts, from the Care Quality Commission, found standards at Nutwood Medical Practice in Grange to be among the best in the country.

News of the rating has been greeted with delight by staff at the surgery, located within Grange Health Centre in Kents Bank Road.

Dr Jane Irwin, senior partner at Nutwood Medical Practice, said: "Our practice team should be proud of the feedback from the inspectors and from our patients. 

"We have worked very hard to ensure we are providing the best care for all our patients, and it is fantastic to see this recognised by the CQC." 


Dr Hugh Reeve, NHS Cumbria Clinical Commissioning Group Fellow senior partner Dr Hugh Reeve - whose second job is as NHS Cumbria Clinicial Commissioning Group's clinical chairman, the organisation responsible for buying in health services on behalf of the county - added: "It's great news, as an outstanding rating is certainly hard to come by.

"It has been a team effort though, so everyone involved with the practice is over the moon."

The CQC inspection took place in August with the inspection team rating the practice against a stringent set of criteria set by the government.

They found Nutwood Medical Practice, which cares for 4,700 patients in the area, to be outstanding overall as well as in the way it tailors care towards its patients.

Staff were said to work well together and were committed to carrying out regular audits to seek areas for self-improvement and learning as well as opportunities to better outcomes for patients.

Sue McMillan, CQC deputy chief inspector of general practice in the North, said:  “This is a great example of what outstanding care looks like.

“We were particularly impressed with the practice’s work to develop innovative new ways of supporting older patients and people with long term conditions as well as the commitment of all staff to continuously seek improved outcomes for local people. 

"We found Nutwood Medical Practice was performing highly in patient surveys about the care and treatment it provided, and people we spoke to said they were treated with respect, dignity and compassion."