- GP practice
The Willow Tree Surgery
Assessment report published 17 November 2025
Contents
Ratings
Our view of the service
Date of Assessment: Site visit date- 17/06/2025. We carried out an unannounced assessment of The Willow Tree Surgery because of information of concern received by The Care Quality Commission (CQC).
We focused on 4 quality statements relevant to the concerns. We did not assess other quality statements again. The following quality statements were focused on:
Safe
- safe and effective staffing
- safe systems, pathways and transitions
Responsive
- equity in access and
Well- led
- governance, management and sustainability.
The concerns raised with CQC were about the availability of medical staff during the day and other staff working outside their scope of expertise. Our inspection did not find any evidence to support these allegations.
The Willow Tree Surgery is a GP Practice and delivers service to 3,310 patients through a contract held with NHS England. Its parent provider is Dr Minoli Rehana Handalage under a sole trader legal entity. The National General Practice Profile states that the patient population make up for this location is 44.0% Asian, 28.3% White, 12.9% Black, 4.5% Mixed and 10.3% other demographic/ ethnicity. Information published by the Office for Health Improvement and Disparities shows that deprivation among the practice population group is in the 4th decile (4 out of 10). The lower the decile, the more deprived the practice population is relative to others.
We focused assessment on 3 key questions safe, responsive and well-led. The summary of the key questions is as follows:
Safe: The focused assessment examined 2 quality statements: safe and effective staffing; and safe systems, pathways and transitions. CQC was assured from this visit that the matters raised in the information of concern it received were not substantiated. Staff informed us that they followed the guidance put in place however, they felt uncomfortable carrying out any emergency protocols such as staying with a patient while waiting for an ambulance without a doctor on site physically.
Effective: The focused assessment did not assess this key question.
Caring: The focused assessment did not assess this key question.
Responsive: The focused assessment examined 1 quality statement mainly equity in access. CQC was assured from this visit that the concerns raised from the qualified disclosure were not substantiated. However, some patients were asked to come back when a clinician was on site.
Well-Led: The focused assessment examined 1 quality statements; governance, management and sustainability. CQC was assured from this visit that the matters raised in the information of concern it received were not substantiated.
People's experience of this service
Due to the assessment being unannounced, CQC did not seek or receive feedback from patients. However, the data obtained from the NHS Family and Friends Test conducted in June 2025 showed that of the 33 respondents, 7 respondents felt they had a very good experience, 9 respondents had a good experience, 15 respondents were neutral, 1 respondent had a very poor experience and another a poor experience of service delivery at this location. The National GP Patient 2025 Survey results showed that people’s experience of service delivery at this location needed to be improved.