Bosses from Cockermouth’s GP surgery will be asked to explain their situation in front of a Cumberland Council committee.
Castlegate & Derwent Surgery has been placed into special measures by the Care Quality Commission following an inspection.
Inspectors found that there were breaches of regulation of safe care and treatment, good management of the service, safeguarding and acting on complaints.
Over 1,000 reminders to arrange appointments were found in the surgery’s diary, including blood tests, scans and X-rays.
It serves around 18,500 patients in the town and surrounding areas.
Members of Cumberland Council’s health overview and scrutiny committee met on Thursday and Mr Campbell-Savours addressed councillors.
He asked: “The Care Quality Commission’s latest inspection of Castlegate & Derwent Surgery, which rated the practice Inadequate in four out of five domains and placed it into special measures.
“And given the long history of performance concerns highlighted in local reporting and in parliamentary Early Day Motions, will this committee use its statutory powers to require the North East and North Cumbria Integrated Care Board to attend a future meeting to explain the history of these problems, what support or interventions the ICB has already provided, and whether it has effectively used its contractual powers to address the risks identified by the CQC?
“And, also recognising the limits of the committee’s formal powers, will you also invite the GP partners at Castlegate & Derwent Surgery and the CQC inspection team to set out their positions?”
He told members that, for many months, his office had received emails from residents outlining concerns over the quality provided by the GP surgery and added: “In the autumn of 2025 these became of sufficient volume and raised consistent themes that my team and I started an investigation.”
He added that he felt the committee could conduct a useful enquiry into the current situation which had left residents in Cockermouth feeling let down.
Councillor Carni McCarron-Holmes (Maryport North, Labour) said they should carry out a deep dive to look into the failings.
And councillor Helen Davison (Belah, Green Party) said it was shocking to hear about the report’s findings and added: “This is the only surgery that serves Cockermouth so residents have little choice where to go.”
Councillor Graham Minshaw (Egremont North and St Bees, Labour) said: “I think we do need to look at this at the earliest possible moment.”
Councillor Martin Harris (Dearham and Broughton, Labour) said he was registered with the practice and there may be mitigating circumstances and reasonable questions needed to be asked.
Councillor Gillian Troughton (Howgate, Labour) suggested it could be an item on the agenda of the next meeting on July 30 and Councillor John Mallinson (Houghton and Irthington, Conservative) said they needed to be open and transparent over the matter.
Members agreed that it should be included in July’s meeting when representatives from both the surgery, the integrated care board and the CQC inspection team would be invited to speak.
