Houghton Regis Medical Centre told to improve after CQC inspection

​Dr Jinmi and Partners, also known as Houghton Regis Medical Centre, was inspected in October and November 2025 as part of a routine check on the practice.

At the time, the service was treating around 13,500 patients at its Peel Street site.

The report, published earlier this month, deemed the surgery as requiring improvement overall.

A spokesperson for NHS Central East Integrated Care Board, on behalf of the surgery, said: “We are working with the practice team at Houghton Regis Medical Centre to support them as they address the matters highlighted by the recent visit and subsequent published report by the Care Quality Commission.

“The ICB and the practice team are committed to ensuring patients receive the safe, effective healthcare services they expect.”

The CQC looked at how safe the practice was, and while it had made some improvements since February 2025, there was more to be done.

The report stated: “...the service did not always thoroughly investigate complaints and significant events to understand the reasons for them and to take actions to help prevent them [from] happening again.

“...did not always make sure patients received safe care and treatment from staff who had the required skills, knowledge and competency.”

The medical centre was praised for making changes to how it dealt with test results and referrals in a timely way; it had brought in systems to safeguard patients and improve how it responded to medical emergencies.

Patients had “not always received treatment in line with national guidance”, according to the inspectors.

The report stated: “For example, the practice did not always make changes to patients’ ongoing medicines, in line with current national guidance, to ensure their asthma was managed as well as possible. “

Another patient had been prescribed a “medicine that should not be taken by people who have asthma because it can make the patient’s asthma worse and stop other asthma medicines from working”.

And one patient with hypothyroidism had not had a medication review since 2010.

The surgery was rated good for how caring it was, with people using the service saying they felt “staff involved them in decisions about their care and treatment and listened to their concerns”.

There was mixed feedback about the attitudes of staff.

The CQC said: “Some people said they felt staff were polite, kind and that reception and clinical staff always respected their privacy and dignity.

“However, other patients told us they felt that particular non-clinical members of staff were unhelpful and rude, although some also told us that they felt the attitude of some staff had got better.”

A patient survey carried out in 2025 found that 56 per cent of those who filled it out responded positively to the overall experience of their GP practice, and 83 per cent said during their last appointment, they had confidence and trust in the healthcare professional they saw or spoke to.