THE Care Quality Commision has said a GP surgery is making improvements after it was rated “inadequate” in its last inspection.

The healthcare watchdog released a new report on the Sutherland Lodge Surgery in Baddow Road, Chelmsford after carrying out an inspection in January this year.

The report followed a full inspection of the practice carried out a month earlier, which was rated as “inadequate”.

Professor Steve Field, chief inspector of general practice, said: “At this inspection, we found a number of areas of serious concern relating to risk management and patient safety.

“We spoke with the provider about our findings and asked them to send us an action plan to assure us that the areas of high risk that we found on inspection were being managed effectively and the risks to patients reduced.”

The surgery is managed by Virgin Care Services.

The company took over the contract for the surgery from the NHS in July 2016, where it now provides medical care to around 11,000 people in the area.

In the latest report Prof Field said that the CQC recognised that improvements had been made in the month between inspections.

He said: “We were satisfied that the findings at this inspection reduced the risk to patients to a level where significant enforcement action was not required.

“The provider was continuing to make improvements as identified in their action plan.

Following the newest report, a spokesperson for the surgery said: “After inspectors visited in December, we immediately set about making the improvements and the report published on June 29 reflects the improvements we made in the three weeks after the original inspection in December.

“While there is still much more to do, we are confident patients are already seeing improvements and that they will continue to do so.

“We are looking forward to welcoming inspectors back soon to see the work we’ve done.”