Eye Health Centre

Updated 26 June 2023

Eye Health Centre is located in Eye at:

The Health Centre

Castleton Way

Eye

Suffolk

IP23 7DD

There is a dispensary at Eye Health Centre and we inspected this as part of this inspection. The practice offers health care services to around 6,200 patients.

The practice is registered with CQC to deliver the Regulated Activities; diagnostic and screening procedures, maternity and midwifery services and treatment of disease, disorder or injury and surgical procedures.

The practice is situated within the North East Essex and Suffolk Integrated Care System (ICS) and delivers General Medical Services (GMS) which is part of a contract held with NHS England.

The practice is part of a wider network, East Suffolk Primary Care Network (PCN) is one of the largest PCNs in England, made up of 11 practices and more than 150,000 patients, covering a large area of East Suffolk from Felixstowe to Eye in the Northwest.

The practice has 2 GP partners that are supported by a regular locum GP. There is a nursing team of 5, which includes 1 healthcare assistant and a phlebotomist.

There is a team of receptionist and administration staff, a practice manager, and an assistant practice manager. The dispensary team includes a lead pharmacy technician who is the dispensary manager, and 4 dispensers.

Information published by Public Health England shows that deprivation within the practice population group is in the 7th decile (7 of 10). The lower the decile, the more deprived the practice population is relative to others.

According to the latest available data, the ethnic make-up of the practice area is 0.5% Asian, 98% White, 0.5% Black, 0.5% Mixed, and 0.5% Other.

The age distribution of the practice population closely mirrors the local averages.

The practice is open between 8am to 7:30pm Monday and 8am to 6:30pm Tuesday to Friday. The practice offers a range of appointment types including book on the day, telephone consultations and advance appointments.

Extended access is provided locally by GP+ (Suffolk GP Federation), where late evening and weekend appointments are available. Out of hours services are provided by Suffolk GP Federation.

Updated 26 June 2023

We carried out an announced comprehensive at Eye Health Centre on 28 April 2023. Overall, the practice is rated as good.

Safe - good

Effective - good

Caring - good

Responsive - good

Well-led - good

Following our previous inspection on 28 July 2016, the practice was rated good overall and for all key questions but.

The full reports for previous inspections can be found by selecting the ‘all reports’ link for Eye Health Centre on our website at www.cqc.org.uk

Why we carried out this inspection

We carried out this inspection to follow up on concerns reported to us about gaps in staffing with specialist skills.

How we carried out the inspection

This inspection was carried out in a way which enabled us to spend a minimum amount of time on site.

This included:

• Conducting staff interviews using video conferencing.
• Completing clinical searches on the practice’s patient records system (this was with consent from the provider and in line with all data protection and information governance requirements).
• Reviewing patient records to identify issues and clarify actions taken by the provider.
• Requesting evidence from the provider.
• A short site visit.

Our findings

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 found that:

• The practice provided care in a way that kept patients safe and protected them from avoidable harm.
• There was an effective system in place for reporting and recording significant events.
• Patients received effective care and treatment that met their needs.
• Risks to patients were assessed and well managed.
• Patients’ care and treatment was delivered in line with current evidence based guidance.
• Staff had been trained to provide them with the skills, knowledge and experience to deliver effective care and treatment.
• Staff dealt with patients with kindness and respect and involved them in decisions about their care.
• Patients could access care and treatment in a timely way.
• The way the practice was led and managed promoted the delivery of high-quality, person-centre care.

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

• Embed the new procedure to monitor that historical medicine and safety alerts are all actioned in an appropriate timeframe.
• Embed and monitor the revised process for monitoring patients care and treatment in an appropriate time frame.
• Improve the procedure the practice use to identify carer’s.

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

Dr Sean O’Kelly BSc MB ChB MSc DCH FRCA

Chief Inspector of Hospitals and Interim Chief Inspector of Primary Medical Services