- GP practice
The Orchard Surgery
Assessment report published 20 August 2026
Contents
Ratings
Our view of the service
Date of Assessment: 21 July 2026. The Orchard Surgery is a GP practice which delivers services to approximately 3000 people under a contract held with NHS England. According to the latest available data, the ethnic make-up of the service area is approximately 78% White, 13% Asian, 4% Mixed, 3% Black and 2% Other. Information published by the Office for Health Improvement and Disparities shows deprivation within the service population group is in the 8th decile (8 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 practice, 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 and took steps to control the risk of it spreading. We identified some concerns in relation to staff training, safe recruitment of staff, staff immunisation and record keeping for domestic cleaning, which we raised with the provider.
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. As a small practice, staff knew their patients well and understood their needs and preferences.
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 - Governance processes were not always working as leaders intended and we found records of staff training, recruitment and staff immunisation were incomplete. Policies were not always being followed to ensure processes were completed in line with guidance. The practice 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.
We found a breach of Regulation 17, good governance. We have asked the provider for an action plan in response to the concerns found at this assessment and we plan to carry out a full comprehensive assessment within the next 12 months.
People's experience of this service
As part of our assessment, we reviewed feedback from people who used the practice to understand their views and experience of the service. People were positive about the quality of their care and treatment. They described how staff treated them with kindness and compassion and respected their privacy.
In the 2026 National GP Patient Survey, 91% of respondents to the survey reported an overall positive experience of their GP practice, compared to a national average of 77%. Latest data published from the NHS Friends and Family Test, in May 2026, showed that of 73 respondents, 95% indicated that their overall experience of their GP practice was good or very good.
There was an active patient participation group (PPG) who represented the views of people using the practice. We saw evidence of how leaders made positive changes because of feedback.