Background to this inspection
Updated
24 December 2018
Frinton Road Surgery is part of a larger organisation known as Anglian Community Enterprise (ACE). ACE have four GP practices in this part of Essex, one in Clacton, one in Holland-on-sea, one in Frinton, and another in Jaywick. ACE, provide community care, health and well-being, primary care, and learning disability services in Essex. ACE is a not-for-profit staff owned social enterprise that delivers services under NHS contracting regulations. They have greater access to organisational resources than other local practices. This includes access to clinical staff leadership, information governance, risk, and health and safety management at an organisational level provided across the four practice locations.
Frinton Road Surgery provides primary care services for approximately 5,500 patients in Holland on sea and the surrounding areas. The practice has an Alternative Provider Medical Services (APMS) contract to provide Primary Care Services. The APMS contract is commissioned by NHS England and performance managed by NHS North East Essex CCG. This location population has a higher than average level of retired older people. The life expectancy of patients within the practice area is comparable with local and national averages.
The clinical team comprises two full-time salaried GPs one female, one male, and regular locum GPs for sessions three times a week. There is also a clinical pharmacist, nurse practitioner/prescriber, a practice matron, a practice nurse, a healthcare assistant, and a
phlebotomist all female working at the practice. The administrative team of two include a receptionist, and a prescribing clerk. All other administrative duties are delivered from the main hub office for the four practices in Clacton.
The surgery opening hours are:
Monday, Wednesday and Friday 8am until 6.30pm and Tuesday 7am until 6.30pm and Thursday 7.30am until 6.30pm.
The surgery appointment times are:
Monday 8.30am to 12 noon and 3pm to 6pm.Tuesday 7.am to 12 noon and 3pm to 6pm.
Wednesday 9am to 12 noon and 3pm to 6pm.Thursday 8.30am to 12 noon and 4pm to 6pm.
Friday 8.30am to 12 noon and 4.30pm to 6pm.
The practice has opted out of providing GP out of hour’s services. Patients calling the practice outside practice working hours are advised by the answerphone message to contact the 111 non-emergency services. Patients requiring urgent treatment are advised to contact the out of hour’s
service provided by Care UK.
The regulated activities carried by the location were:
- Diagnostic and screening procedures
- Family planning services
- Surgical procedures
- Treatment of disease, disorder or injury
Updated
24 December 2018
We carried out an announced comprehensive inspection at Frinton Road Surgery on 01 August 2017. The overall rating for the practice was requires improvement. The full comprehensive report on this inspection can be found by selecting the ‘all reports’ link for Frinton Road Surgery on our website at www.cqc.org.uk.
This inspection was an announced comprehensive inspection carried out on 07 August 2018 and 02 October 2018 as part of our inspection programme and to follow up on breaches of regulations found at our previous inspection in August 2017. This report covers our findings in relation to those requirements and additional improvements made since our last inspection.
The provider of this location is Anglian Community Enterprise and they have four GP practice locations registered with the Care Quality Commission.
Overall the practice is now rated as Requires improvement
The key questions at this inspection are rated as:
Are services safe? – Good
Are service effective? – Requires improvement
Are services caring? – Requires improvement
Are services responsive? – Requires improvement
Are services Well-led – Requires Improvement
Our key findings were as follows:
- The practice had improved the system to act on patient safety and medicine alerts (MHRA) to ensure patient safety.
- The practice business continuity plan had been updated and reviewed to include relevant information.
- Data for the year 2017/18 reflected poor performance for patients with long term conditions and suffering from poor mental health. Most areas had not improved since the previous year. Unverified data shows a trend of improvement in care for patients with mental illness and diabetes but not for respiratory conditions.
- Recording, and the system to identify patients that were carers registered at the practice had improved. Further support was offered to assist carers.
- The practice had carried out their own patient survey to understand their patient’s level of satisfaction for their service and acted on the findings. We saw an action plan with actions taken that showed an improvement in patient’s opinions when they ran the survey six months later. However data from the national GP patient survey from August 2018 reflected low patient satisfaction in many areas.
- Leaders had the capacity and skills to deliver high-quality, sustainable care.
- Staff stated they felt respected, supported and valued.
- The practice had a realistic strategy and supporting business plans to achieve their priorities.
The areas where the provider must make improvements are:
- Ensure care and treatment is provided in a safe way to patients, by improving the effective management and care of patients with long term conditions and mental health.
- Establish effective systems and processes to ensure good governance in accordance with the fundamental standards of care, to improve patient satisfaction with telephone access and appointments.
Professor Steve Field CBE FRCP FFPH FRCGP Chief Inspector of General Practice
Please refer to the detailed report and the evidence tables for further information.