NEARLY 100 per cent of Dorset's GP practices were rated good or outstanding by the government's inspectorate says Dorset's Clinical Commissioning Group.

Over the last year, 84 GP practices in the county have been rated as either good or outstanding by the Care Quality Commission, meaning that over 740,0000 Dorset residents now enjoy services from a practice which has received one of the top two ratings from the CQC.

Depending on their individual rating, practices are inspected at regular intervals of anything from six months to five years and 97 per cent in Dorset are Good or Outstanding.

During an inspection of services, the same five questions are considered, said the CCG. Is the practice safe, is it effective, are the staff caring, are they responsive to people’s needs and is the practice well-led?

There are currently 86 GP practices in Dorset, 80 of which are rated as Good and four of which are rated as Outstanding (4.6 per cent) – the highest rating that can be received.

Two practices have been told they require improvement.

This compares with an overall national average of 89 per cent of GP practices rated as good and four per cent rated as outstanding.

The news comes as the GP Patient survey showed that the vast majority of people in Dorset felt positive about the care they received from their General Practice team.

When asked to describe the overall experience of their GP practice, nearly 90 per cent of respondents from Dorset gave ratings of Very Good or Fairly Good.

The GP Patient Survey published by NHS England also found that eight out of ten people (81 per cent) who completed the survey from the county were satisfied with the type of appointment they were offered the last time they needed to make one.

Dr Forbes Watson is a local GP and Chair of NHS Dorset CCG “As a practising GP I am aware of the immense pressure that Primary Care continues to come under, so I am delighted that Dorset has received such a high number of positive responses in this survey," he said.

CQC ratings for practices in Dorset can be found via www.cqc.org.uk.