Background to this inspection
Updated
29 May 2020
Dr N A Turner and Partners, also known as Tiptree Medical Centre, is located in Tiptree, Essex, and provides GP services to approximately 11,700 patients living in Tiptree, Kelvedon, Feering, Messing, Inworth, Great Totham, Tolleshunt Knights and Tolleshunt D'arcy. The practice is a member of a group of practices called ‘Colte’ and a Primary Care Network (PCN).
The practice holds a General Medical Services (GMS) contract with the NHS. This contract outlines the core responsibilities of the practice to meet the needs of patients through the services it provides.
The practice is led by four male GPs, and supported clinically with; one nurse practitioner, three nurses, and two health care assistants (all female), and there has been recent recruitment of a pharmacist and paramedic to complete the clinical team. The practice manager, a team of administrators and receptionists support the clinical team.
The practice population has a similar number of children aged five to 18 years and patients over 65 years as compared to the local average. Economic deprivation levels affecting children and older people are significantly lower than average, as are unemployment levels. The life
expectancy of male patients is higher than the local average by one year, and the female life expectancy is higher by three years. The number of patients on the practice list that has long standing health conditions is comparable to locally.
The practice is open from 8am until 6.30pm from Monday to Friday.
As the
practice is part of a primary care network (PCN) the practice patients can access and book appointments between 6.30pm to 8pm from Monday to Fridays in the evenings and from 8am to 8pm on Saturdays and Sundays. This service is provided at a local GP surgery as part of the extended access policy with the NHS.
Updated
29 May 2020
We carried out an announced comprehensive inspection at Dr N A Turner and partners on 04 February 2020 as part of our inspection programme.
At this inspection we followed up on a breach of regulations identified at a previous inspection on 08 January 2019 rated requires improvement overall. Regulation 17 HSCA (RA) Regulations 2014 Good Governance was not being met because: The registered provider had not improved patient satisfaction identified in the national GP patient survey of 2018.
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 and well-led services, and requires improvement for responsive services.
We have rated the practice as requires improvement for responsive because patient survey data, as reported in the national GP patient survey, was below local and national averages. This affects all population groups so they have also been rated as requires improvement.
We found that:
- The practice provided care that kept patients safe, and protected them from avoidable harm.
- A system to manage medicine safety alerts and disseminate them through the practice was seen. Staff showed us how information from alerts was acted on and seen by the relevant staff.
- Patients received effective care and treatment that met their needs.
- Staff dealt with patients with kindness and respect and involved them in decisions about their care.
- The practice organised and delivered services to meet patients’ needs. Patients could access care and treatment in a timely way.
- Patient satisfaction was a continuous focus at the practice with a programme of work achieved over the last year to improve and gather patient views.
- We found staff records were well managed and appraisals provided annually.
- The way the practice was led and managed promoted the delivery of high-quality, person-centre care.
- Staff told us the GPs and management were visible and approachable within the practice.
Whilst we found no breaches of regulations, the provider should:
- Continue to improve patient satisfaction in the national GP patient survey.
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