Ranworth Surgery is located in Clacton on Sea. The practice serves around 7,500 people living in the town and surrounding areas.

We found everybody benefitted from the open access surgery in the mornings, evening clinics and the ability to book appointments in advance when planning their healthcare.

The practice was responsive and effective in meeting the needs of older people. An advanced nurse practitioner visited care homes regularly to provide ongoing treatment and support.

The practice was responsive to the needs of people with long term conditions and held clinics at the practice. These included respiratory, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), diabetes, asthma and epilepsy clinics to monitor and review long term conditions.

There were effective protocols and multi-disciplinary working arrangements in place with the local safeguarding teams to respond to the needs of the mothers, babies, children and young people.

Working age patients were kept safe as screening services were accessible to enable the early detection and treatment of health concerns.

There were processes to ensure that the practice was responsive to the needs of people in vulnerable circumstances who may have poor access to primary care. Consultations were available by telephone or by attending people’s homes. The practice provided care and treatment to people who received support from a local homeless charity.

The practice was effective and responsive to the needs of people experiencing poor mental health. There were systems in place for the identification of patients with poor mental health. Annual health checks were conducted and appropriate referrals were made to specialist services, including the Child and Adolescent Mental Health team (CAHMS) and psychiatrists.

Letter from the Chief Inspector of General Practice

We carried out an announced comprehensive inspection at Ranworth Surgery on 14 July 2015.

Overall the practice is 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 people with long term conditions, families, children and young people, working age people (including those recently retired and students), and people experiencing poor mental health (including people with dementia) and outstanding for providing services for older people, and for people whose circumstances may make them vulnerable.

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

• Staff understood how to report significant events and to raise concerns. Actions were taken following investigations into significant events, and these were reviewed to evaluate their impact.
• Risks to patients were assessed and well administered, with evidence of action planning and learning when needed addressed.
• 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.
• Patients told us they were treated with compassion, dignity and respect and said they were involved in their care and decisions about their treatment.
• The practice performed above average in a range of areas surveyed in the national GP patient survey published in July 2015.
• Information about services and how to complain was available and easy to understand.
• The majority of patients said they found it easy to make an appointment with a GP and that there was continuity of care. We were told urgent appointments were available the same day.
• The practice had appropriate facilities and was equipped to treat patients and meet their needs.
• There was a clear leadership structure and staff told us they felt supported by management.
• The practice proactively sought feedback from staff and patients, which it acted on.

We saw two areas of outstanding practice:

• The practice provided a specific, enhanced, primary care service to homeless people in the local area not provided by other local practices.

• The practice had established a ‘Care Home’ service where their GPs held a surgery once a month in selected care homes; the appointments for patients were pre-booked enabling their families to attend with them. This was provided to benefit their patients with a more holistic care model and reduced stress for the patient, their family and for care home staff.

However there was an area of practice where the provider needs to make improvements.

Importantly the provider should:

• Ensure patients are provided information in the waiting room or at the reception desk to guide them if they want to make a complaint.

Professor Steve Field (CBE FRCP FFPH FRCGP) 

Chief Inspector of General Practice