The Willow Tree Surgery

Updated 15 September 2025

The Willow Tree Surgery is a purpose-built GP practice delivering services to approximately 6451 patients under a contract held with NHS England. The practice is situated within the Cambridgeshire, Bedfordshire, and Hertfordshire Integrated Care System (ICB).

Information published by Office for Health Improvement and Disparities shows that deprivation within the practice population group is in the 3rd lowest decile (3 of 10). The lower the decile, the more deprived the practice population is relative to others.

According to the latest available data, the ethnic make-up of the practice area is 84% White, 5% Black, 5% Asian, 4% Mixed, and 2% Other. There are more young people and fewer older people in the practice population than the local and national averages.

This assessment considered the demographics of the people using the service, the context the service was working and how this impacted service delivery. Where relevant, further commentary is provided in the quality statements section of this report.

This is the first assessment of this service since its registration in 2022 with the current provider. We carried out an announced comprehensive assessment of 34 quality statements, under the safe, effective, caring, responsive and well-led key questions. We conducted a remote clinical assessment on 4 November 2025, and a site visit was conducted on 6 November 2025. This assessment was led by a CQC inspector who was supported by a CQC GP Specialist Adviser and 2 other CQC inspectors. We also requested some information from the practice which we reviewed remotely as part of this assessment.

We found breaches of regulation in relation to regulation 17 good governance. Although the practice had implemented a new phone system which was being embedded to improve access. We found that there was limited appointment availability for patients. Therefore, the practice was issued with an action plan to improve access.
 

Updated 15 September 2025

Recent results from the National GP Patient Survey (2025)consisting of 123 responses, indicated that patients were not always satisfied with the services provided, with several areas scoring below both the national and local averages. Only 56% of respondents answered positively to the overall experience of their GP practice. This is below the expected average of 75%.

In addition, only 23% of respondents found it easy to get through to the service by phone, and around half of people found it easy to contact the service online through their website or the NHS App. The practice had created an action plan to address the result of the survey and improve patient satisfaction.

The practice actively collected patient feedback through texts and feedback cards. Feedback from the NHS Friends and Family Test, showed people were mostly satisfied with the service. People we spoke with during our site visit were also positive about the quality of their care and treatment.

There was a recently established but active patient participation group (PPG) who represented the views of people using the service. Representatives from the PPG described how managers made positive changes because of feedback, such as implementing a new wellbeing room at the practice.