STAFF at a Petersfield surgery say an independent inspection report into its services would be very different if another inspection was carried out now.

The Grange Surgery response to the ‘disappointing’ report published by health watchdog the Care Quality Commission (CQC) comes after an inspection on October 9 last year.

The CQC gave the practice off The Causeway – which has around 7,600 patients – an overall rating of “requires improvement.”

The report said changes were needed so that services at the surgery were safe, effective and well-led.

Dr Kathryn Bannell, senior partner, said: “We are obviously disappointed, but we fully accept the findings, and steps have already been taken to make the required improvements.

“For example, we have had a real drive on staff training and are pleased to report that we are now fully compliant in this area.

“We are pleased that our services were recognised as both caring and responsive.

“Patient care is obviously the uppermost priority of every member of our staff – from the doctors and nurses to the receptionists, and the report acknowledges that our staff treat patients with compassion, kindness, dignity and respect.”

Dr Penny Mileham added: “We have addressed the issues and I’m very confident that if the inspectors visited us today they would see that the majority of the improvements needed are already in place.

“Moving forward, we have a great team in place now, and I want to reassure all our patients we will never stop striving for further and ongoing improvements to ensure we can continue to offer them the very best services we can in the heart of the community we serve.”