The Care Quality Commission
  • Doctor
  • GP practice

The Tollesbury Practice Also known as Darcy Surgery

Overall: Good read more about inspection ratings

25 High Street, Tollesbury, Maldon, Essex, CM9 8RG (01621) 869204

Provided and run by:
The Tollesbury Practice

All Inspections

During an assessment under our new approach

Date of Assessment: 20 May 2026 to 1 June 2026. The Tollesbury Practice is a GP practice and delivers services to approximately 4732 people under a contract held with NHS England. According to the latest available data, the ethnic make-up of the service area is approximately 97.5% White, 0.7% Asian, 1% Mixed, 0.4% Black and 0.3% Other. Information published by the Office for Health Improvement and Disparities shows deprivation within the service population group is in the 7th decile (7 of 10). The lower the decile, the more deprived the service population is relative to others.

This was a focused assessment. We undertook this assessment due to the length of time since our last assessment. We assessed 10 quality statements from across all 5 key questions. This assessment considered the demographics of the people using the service, the context the service was working within and how this impacted service delivery. Where relevant, further commentary is provided in the quality statements section of this report.

SAFE: Staff kept facilities clean and maintained equipment appropriately to ensure people were kept safe. They assessed and managed the risk of infection well and took steps to control the risk of it spreading. There were enough staff with the right skills, qualifications and experience.

EFFECTIVE: Staff supported people to live healthier lives, monitoring their care and treatment to ensure they received positive and consistent outcomes.

CARING: Staff treated people with kindness, empathy and compassion, and respected their privacy and dignity.

RESPONSIVE: People could access care, treatment and support when they needed it. Leaders and staff were alert to discrimination and inequality that could disadvantage groups of people who used the service and sought ways to address any barriers.

WELL-LED: The service had a clear vision and strategy, which considered the needs of the people who used their service and the wider community. Staff understood their individual roles and responsibilities. Leaders accounted for the actions, behaviours and performance of staff through clear and effective governance processes.

During an inspection looking at part of the service

We carried out an inspection of this service due to the length of time since the last inspection. Following our review of the information available to us, including information provided by the practice, we focused our inspection on the following key questions: Effective and Well-led services.

Because of the assurance received from our review of information we carried forward the good ratings for the following key questions: Safe, Caring and Responsive services.

We based our judgement of the quality of care at this service on a combination of:

  • what we found when we inspected
  • information from our ongoing monitoring of data about services and
  • information from the provider, patients, the public and other organisations.

We have rated this practice as good overall and good for safe, effective, caring, responsive and well-led services and for all the population groups.

We found that:

  • There were effective arrangements to identify, and manage risks.
  • When things went wrong people were given an apology and told about the subsequent action to reduce occurrence.
  • Staff had the skills, knowledge and experience to deliver patients; effective, safe, care, support, and treatment.
  • Patients treatment was reviewed regularly to monitor it met their needs.
  • Patients had access to appropriate health assessments and checks.
  • Clinicians supported patients to make decisions about their care and treatment.
  • Patients told us they were treated with compassion, dignity and respect and they were involved in their care and decisions about their treatment.
  • The practice organised and delivered services to meet patients’ needs that could be accessed in a timely way.
  • There was a clear leadership structure and staff felt supported by management.
  • The practice proactively sought feedback from staff and patients, which it acted on.
  • Clinical and management leaders at the practice showed they understood the challenges, to provide quality, sustainable care for the practice population.
  • Staff knew and understood the vision and values attributed to care and treatment at the practice.

Whilst we found no breaches of regulations, the provider should:

  • Continue to reduce the prescribing of hypnotic medicine.
  • Continue to improve cervical screening uptake.

Details of our findings and the evidence supporting our ratings are set out in the evidence tables.

Dr Rosie Benneyworth BM BS BMedSci MRCGP

Chief Inspector of Primary Medical Services and Integrated Care

10/03/2015

During a routine inspection

Letter from the Chief Inspector of General Practice

We carried out an announced comprehensive inspection at The Tollesbury Surgery on 10/03/2015. Overall the practice was rated as good.

Specifically, we found the practice to be good for providing safe, effective, caring, responsive, and well-led, services. It was also good for providing services for the older people, people with long-term conditions, families, children and young people, working age people (including those recently retired and students), people living in vulnerable circumstances, and people experiencing poor mental health (including people with dementia).

Our key findings across all the areas we inspected were as follows:

  • Staff understood and fulfilled their responsibilities to raise concerns, and to report incidents and near misses. Information about safety was recorded, monitored, appropriately reviewed, addressed and shared with staff during meetings.
  • Risks to patients were assessed and managed.
  • Patients’ needs were assessed and care was planned and delivered following best practice guidance.
  • Staff had received training appropriate to their roles and any further training needs had been identified and planned for.
  • Patients said they were treated with compassion, dignity and respect and they were involved in their care and decisions about their treatment.
  • Information about services and how to complain was readily available and easy to understand. Complaints were investigated and responded to appropriately.
  • The practice had good facilities and was well equipped to treat patients and meet their needs.
  • There was a clear leadership structure and staff felt supported by management. The practice

proactively sought feedback from staff and patients, which it acted on.

Professor Steve Field (CBE FRCP FFPH FRCGP) 

Chief Inspector of General Practice