A MIDDLEWICH GP has been recognised for its good healthcare practice this year.

Waters Edge Medical Centre attained the top score of 100 per cent in the 2018/19 Quality and Outcomes Framework (QoF) results.

The QoF score gives an indication of the overall achievement of the surgery through a points system and high-achieving practices – like Waters Edge, on Leadsmithy Street – can gain more financial resources as a reward for this from the NHS to provide better care for patients.

Waters Edge is part of SSP Health and all its practices attained at least a 97% score in their latest QoF results.

Dr Sanjay Pitalia, GP and director of SSP Health, said: “Congratulations to our colleagues at Waters Edge Medical Centre for hitting 100 per cent in the latest QoF ratings.

“It shows what great care our patients there are receiving. It is also absolutely brilliant that our practices generally have achieved such outstanding results.

“They reflect the hard work of all our staff throughout the year.

“We were especially pleased with the high scores from our new practices, which have joined us within the past year, some of which faced particular challenges in having to achieve the very high standards of care that we expect in our organisation.”

SSP Health practices also reported a low level of exceptions.

This means that patients can be removed from the statistics for various reasons and 23 SSP practices showed this score at below 1 per cent, including Waters Edge which reported 0.75 per cent.

In 2017-18, only 12 per cent of practices across England hit the 100 per cent score.

The figure is calculated from a series of measures, including how practices deal with clinical issues, such as kidney disease and heart failure; targets for cervical screening and contraception and indicators for public health, including reducing obesity and managing blood pressure in patients.