Background to this inspection
Updated
8 July 2019
Silver End Surgery is a GP practice located in the semi-rural village of Silver End near Witham. The provider of this service is Virgin Care Service Limited and is registered with CQC as an organisation. Silver End Surgery is managed by the provider organisation Virgin Care Services Limited. The provider organisation took over the contract to provide NHS primary care services at Silver End Surgery in 2016 and manages 19 other GP practices across England.
The practice is part of the Mid Essex Clinical Commissioning Group and services are provided from: Silver End Surgery, Broadway, Silver End, Witham, Essex, CM8 3RQ.
Online services can be accessed from the practice website: https://www.silverendsurgery.co.uk/
The practice provides primary medical services to approximately 3,800 patients. The practice has a marginally higher over 85 years population than the national and local average of 3.3% compared with 2.3% and 2.6%.
The practice population is fourth in the deprivation score, which is on a scale of one to ten. The lower the score, more deprived an area is compared to the national average.
Patients can also contact the NHS 111 service to obtain medical advice and the ‘Out of hours’ service to support them outside the practice working hours.
Updated
8 July 2019
We carried out an announced comprehensive inspection at Silver End Surgery on 16 April 2019 as part of our inspection programme.
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 previously carried out an announced comprehensive inspection at Silver End Surgery on 17 January 2018 when the overall rating for the service was requires improvement. We found the practice required improvement for providing safe, responsive and well led services. We issued a requirement notice for regulation17, good governance, to ensure the practice made appropriate improvements.
This inspection was an announced comprehensive inspection carried out on 16 April 2019, to confirm that the service had carried out their plan to meet the legal requirements, in relation to the breaches in regulations that we identified in our previous inspections
We rated the practice as requires improvement for responsive services because:
- The practice planned and delivered services to respond to their registered population needs. However, the low satisfaction rates in the GP national survey were lower than the previous year in certain areas.
These areas affected all population groups in responsive, so we rated all population groups as requires improvement.
We rated the practice as good for providing safe, effective, caring and well-led services because:
- Significant events were identified and investigated effectively. Learning was shared with staff through meetings and communications to mitigate the risk of reoccurrence.
- Clear systems and processes were in place to keep patients safeguarded from abuse. Staff were able to identify the safeguarding lead and had received the appropriate training.
- Systems were in place to manage health and safety risks.
- Effective and appropriate standards of cleanliness and hygiene were being met. An annual audit and regular monitoring had been carried out.
- Patients received effective care and treatment that was monitored to meet their needs.
- Staff dealt with patients through kindness, and respected and involved them in decisions about their care.
- The practice had identified patients that were carers to ensure they had access to the care and support they needed.
- The corporate system to manage, investigate and analyse complaints was effective, timely, identified learning was cascaded to staff. This showed improvements were made and included a system to identify any trends and themes requiring action.
- The practice had effective clinical oversight, to ensure care and treatment was well-led.
- The GPs had the skills to deliver high-quality, sustainable care.
- Staff told us they felt supported, valued and that their opinions were well regarded.
The areas where the provider should make improvements are:
- Continue to improve levels of patient satisfaction in relation to, how easy to access the practice by telephone, and their experience of making an appointment.
Details of our findings and the evidence supporting our ratings are set out in the evidence table.
Dr Rosie Benneyworth BM BS BMedSci MRCGP
Chief Inspector of Primary Medical Services and Integrated Care
Working age people (including those recently retired and students)
Updated
8 July 2019
People experiencing poor mental health (including people with dementia)
Updated
8 July 2019