A HEALTH watchdog says a series of significant improvements have been made at a York GP practice - but has kept it in special measures for now.

Unity Health, which runs Kimberlow Hill and Wenlock Terrace surgeries, was originally rated ‘inadequate’ by the Care Quality Commission (CQC) and placed in measures after a routine inspection in May found it failed to meet national standards in a number of areas.

These included arrangements for monitoring and reviewing prescribing, weaknesses in the management of potential risks to patient safety, complaints handling and delays in answering the phone.

The Press revealed in September that Unity was being allowed to register new patients again after a fresh inspection by the CQC found it had made improvements, and now the watchdog has published an interim report giving details of its findings.

These included:

• Safety systems were now in place

• Patients found it easier to get through to the practice by phone.

• Staff treated patients with compassion, kindness and respect

• Arrangements for monitoring and reviewing prescribing helped ensure patients were safe

A Unity Health spokesman said that since May, the practice had been working with health partners, patients and the University of York to improve both patient facilities and the way patients contacted and accessed services.

“The feedback from patients has been good and people say they are seeing the results of this hard work,” he said.

He added that a full CQC review and re-assessment of the practice’s overall quality rating was scheduled for the New Year.

Unity Health partner Dr Richard Wilcox said staff had worked tirelessly over the summer to make improvements following the "disappointing" CQC report in May, adding: “We are delighted that those efforts have been recognised.”