South Reading Patient Voice

The Care Quality Commission, the body responsible for checking the quality of care at hospitals and surgeries, has awarded University Medical Centre the OUSTANDING grade after an inspection in January 2015. Read more about this here .

In June 2016 the Care Quality Commission gave the Chancellor House and Tilehurst Village practice of Drs Underwood and Pizura a rating of "Good". They also singled out two area of outstanding practice: the "reversing diabetes" programme for patients with Type 2 diabetes to reduce their reliance on medicine through weight loss and diet, and the very comprehensive website for patients.

In June 2016 the Care Quality Commission gave Longbarn Lane a rating of "Requires Improvement". They found that the practice was inadequately led and was insufficiently safe and effective. Please find details here . The CQC considered that the premises, adult safeguarding policy, possibility of legionella and deficiencies in monitoring emergency equipment posed risks to patients. Requirements and recommendations for the practice involve better risk assessment, exception reporting and registering of carers.

In June 2016 the Care Quality Commission confirmed its assessment of the Walk-In Centre in Broad Street Mall as "Requires Improvement". Please find details of its inspection here . The CQC found that services were safe, caring and well-led but had concerns over responsiveness and effectiveness of the services. They were concerned about support and nurses training for caring for people with long term conditions especially management of diabetes. Also about patients' difficulty in making an appointment with a GP. The practice must act on these concerns and is also recommended to act to improve childhood immunisation rates and the registration of carers.

In June 2016 the Care Quality Commission gave Abbey Medical Centre a "Good" rating. This was a repeat inspection looking only at safety after an earlier inspection found that DBS checks had not been obtained for all staff acting as chaperones and appropriate approval was not always obtained for staff conducting childhood immunisations. The repeat inspection found that these deficiencies had been corrected. Please find details here .

In June 2016 the Care Quality Commission gave Russell Street Surgery (Dr Swami and Partners) the rating "Good". Please find details here . The practice had previously been judged insufficiently caring but after GP training in communicating with empathy a patient survey showed improved satisfaction

In May 2016, the Care Quality Commission improved the rating of London Street Surgery to "Requires Improvement". The surgery must still improve its recording and learning from incident reviews, ensure national safety and medicines alerts are fully disseminated and acted upon, improve checks on all new staff, regularly review patient concerns about time and communication in consultations, review governance regarding management of risks. It should act on development suggestions made in appraisals, encourage carers to register, undertake routine health checks on patients between 40 and 74 years old, plan and act for better outcomes for patients with learning disabilities, improve promotion of the benefits of bowel and other cancer screening. See the full report here .

In April 2016, the Care Quality Commission rated Pembroke surgery as "Good", giving a good rating in all categories. It recommended improvements in the monitoring and recording of training, in the Patient Participation Group, which is currently a virtual (online) group, in increasing cervical and breast screening takeup and in displaying comment and compliment forms in the waiting area. The facility to offer ultrasound examinations was rated "Outstanding". See here for full details

In April 2016, the Care Quality Commission rated Kennet Surgery (and its branch at Christchurch Rd) as "good". But it required improvements, to: explaining tests and treatments to patients, communicating changes in the appointment system to patients and registering the carers among patients. See here for full details.

In March 2016, the Care Quality Commission rated Eldon Road Surgery "Inadequate" and required it to undertake many improvements. You can read more about this here .

Also in March 2016, the Care Quality Commission rated Abbey Medical Centre as "good" - it had previously been rated "requires improvement".
You can read all about it here.

Again in March 2016, Dr Dean's practice at Melrose House was rated "requires improvement" by the Care Quality Commission. Issues related to building maintenance checks, checks required for staff, provision of information in appropriate languages, recording of carers and infection control policies were raised. You can read about it here.

Further in March 2016, Dr Mittal's practice at Milman Road Health Center was rated as "good" by the Care Quality Commission. You can read about it
here.

In January 2016, London Road Surgery was rated "good" by the Quality Commission. Requirements on training in the Mental Health Capacity Act and suggestions of more information in languages other than English, also installation of a defibrillator and associated training, were included in the report. An earlier inspection had found the practice Inadequate.

In November 2015, Russel Street Surgery was rated "good". It has emerged from special measures directly to a "good" rating; the inspectors noted that significant improvements had been made since the previous inspection. This practice also provides GP services at Coley Park Surgery and at Burghfield Health Centre.

In October 2015, London Street Surgery has been rated "inadequate" and placed in special measures, although inspectors commended it for one area of outstanding practice in its outreach to local faith and minority groups. Read more about this here.

In October 2015, Chatham Street Surgery has been rated "inadequate" and placed in special measures. Reading more about this here.

Where a practice is rated less than good, NHS England, the Royal College of General Practitioners and the local CCG will work with the practice to help bring the service back to a good rating.

In August 2015 private provider Berkshire Health Ltd, was found to be delivering safe services after correcting its recruitment of staff, which was found wanting in an earlier inspection. You can read about it here.

Early in 2015 Dr Williams' practice in Melrose House on London Road was put into special measur"es and a little later Dr Williams became ill and spent a time in hospital. For some of this time patients had to transfer to the Walk-In Centre. We wish Dr Williams a full and sound recovery. Later, service was resumed and patients could return to the Melrose House surgery. Read more about this here . However, a further inspection of progress proved unsatisfactory and a second Warning Notice had to be issued. Finally at yet a further inspection the practice was still rated inadequate in August 2015. Dr William's surgery has now merged with Dr Dean's Melrose House surgery.

On 13th May 2015 the Care Quality Commission placed the Russell Street Surgery in "special measures". Read more about that here .

On 14th May 2015 the Care Quality Commission rated the Walk-In Centre in Broad Street Mall as requiring improvement. Read more about this here . You can also read the report in the Reading Chronicle.

On 16th April 2015 Long Barn Lane surgery was rated as requiring improvement. Read more about it here .

Also on 16th April 2015 Abbey Medical Centre was rated as requiring improvement. Read more about it here .

On 21st October 2013 London Road Surgery had been found inadequate and had been asked to make improvements by a given date. Read more about it here. For a more recent status see here.

The Care Quality Commission will be conducting further GP practice inspections in South Reading.

Downshire House, a residential care home was found Good in January 2016.

Tilehurst Lodge, a residential care home for those with learning difficulties or autism was found requiring improvement in January 2016.

188, Whitley Wood Lane, a respite care home for those with learning difficulties or autism, was found Good in December 2015.

375, Old Whitley Wood Lane, a care home for those with learning difficulties or autism was found Good in December 2015.

159, Wensley Road, a small residential home for people with learning difficulties was found Good in December 2015.

1, Longmore Road, a residential care home for those with learning difficulties was found Good in November 2015.

Pembroke Lodge, a residential care home, was found requiring improvement in November 2015.

Jigsaw Creative Care, a respite residential care home, was found Good in October 2015.

Rookery Cottage, a residential care home for those with learning difficulties was found Good in October 2015.

Focus House, a nursing home provided by Reading Borough Council for those with mental illness was found Good in September 2015.

The Liberty of Earley House, providing care in individual apartments, was found requring improvement in September 2015.

1, Uppingham Gardens, a nursing home, was found Good in September 2015.

Northcourt Lodge Nursing Home was found Good in August 2015.

Life Care Corporation Ltd, a residential care home, was found requiring improvement in August 2015.

Jasmine House Nursing Home was found Good in July 2015.

Dimensions Loddon Court, providing respite care for those with learning difficulties, was found Good in June 2015.

Chilmington House, which provides personal care for those with learning disabilities or autism was found Good in May 2015.

Care home 46A Eastern Avenue was found Good in April 2015.

Summerfield Care Home, a residential care home, was found Good in March 2015.

Hazeldene, a care home for those with learning difficutlies, was found Good in March 2015.

Care home Yew Tree Lodge was found requiring improvement in March 2015.

Following an inspection in October 2014, the CQC has found Mulberry Care Ltd at 155a Wokingham Road, inadequate. Read more about this here . In Novermber 2015 it was found requiring improvement.