Mersea Medical Centre

Updated 20 June 2018

Mersea Island Medical Practice is situated at The Surgery, 32 Kingsland Road, West Mersea, Essex, CO5 8RA. The practice is part of North East Essex Clinical Commissioning Group (CCG). Services are provided under a general medical service (GMS) contract with NHS England. There are approximately 7700 registered patients. Services are provided from two single storey buildings that are both accessed from the main road coming into Mersea Island. There is car parking facilities at both sites. We inspected the main building at this inspection.

• There are five GP partners; (two female and three male) two partners work full-time and the other three work part-time. The nursing team comprises of an advanced Nurse practitioner, two nurses and a healthcare assistant.
• The administrative team comprises a practice manager, an operations manager, and eight part-time receptionists.
• The rural practice population included a higher than average national number of patients aged between 40 and 70 years of age. The Public Health England practice population deprivation score was eight. (One = Most deprived 10 = Least deprived).
• Average life expectancy for men was 81 years and for women 87, this is above national average figures.
• Mersea Island is a popular holiday destination with a number of caravan holiday parks. The population on Mersea island doubles during the summer months, and the practice service provision is adaptable to accommodate the population fluctuations.
• The practice opening and clinical hours are from 8am to 6.30pm Monday to Friday. Appointments are bookable on the day in the mornings, and in advance.
• The practice has opted out of providing GP out of hour’s services. Patients requiring a GP outside of the normal practice working hours are advised to contact the 111 non-emergency services. Patients requiring emergency treatment are able to contact the out of hour’s service, which is provided by Care UK.
• The practice provides family planning, surgical procedures, maternity and midwifery services, treatment of disease, disorder or injury and diagnostic and screening procedures as their regulated activities.

The practice is a GP training practice and provides training for GP trainees called registrars and graduate junior doctors.

Updated 20 June 2018

This practice is rated as Good overall. The previous inspection carried out 17 May 2016 was rated as Good overall

The key questions are rated as:

Are services safe? – Good

Are services effective? – Good

Are services caring? – Good

Are services responsive? – Good

Are services well-led? - Good

We carried out an announced comprehensive inspection at Mersea Island Medical Practice on 24 April 2018. This inspection was carried out under Section 60 of the Health and Social Care Act 2008 as part of our regulatory functions. The inspection was planned to check whether the provider was meeting the legal requirements and regulations associated with the Health and Social Care Act 2008, to look at the overall quality of the service and to provide a rating for the service under the Care Act 2014.

At this inspection we found:

• The practice had clear systems to manage risk to reduce the risk of safety incidents from occurring. When incidents did happen, the practice learned from them and improved their processes.
• The practice consistently reviewed the effectiveness and appropriateness of the care they provided.
• Care and treatment was delivered according to evidence- based guidelines.
• We saw evidence that staff involved and treated patients with compassion, kindness, dignity and respect.
• Patients reported appointments could be accessed when they needed one.
• There was a strong focus on continuous learning across the whole practice and improvement was seen at every level.

There was one area where the practice should make improvement;

• Continue to find ways to improve patient satisfaction in relation to the opening hours and contact for patients with the practice by phone.

Professor Steve Field CBE FRCP FFPH FRCGPChief Inspector of General Practice

Updated 20 June 2018

Updated 20 June 2018

Updated 20 June 2018

Updated 20 June 2018

Updated 20 June 2018

Updated 20 June 2018