The Care Quality Commission
  • Doctor
  • GP practice

Archived: Tollgate Health Centre

Overall: Good read more about inspection ratings

Unit 1, Tollgate Health Centre, 145 London Road, Stanway, Colchester, Essex, CO3 8NZ (01206) 574483

Provided and run by:
Tollgate Health Centre

All Inspections

22 June 2015

During a routine inspection

Letter from the Chief Inspector of General Practice

We carried out an announced comprehensive inspection at Tollgate Health Centre on 22 June 2015. Overall the practice is rated as good.

Specifically, we found the practice to be good for providing well-led, effective, caring and responsive services. It was also good for providing services for older people, people with long-term conditions, Families, children and young people, working age people (including those recently retired and students), people whose circumstances may make them vulnerable and people experiencing poor mental health (including people with dementia)

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

  • Staff understood and fulfilled their responsibilities to raise concerns, and to report incidents and near misses. Information about safety was recorded, monitored, appropriately reviewed and addressed.
  • Risks to patients were assessed and well managed, with the exception of those relating to recruitment checks.
  • 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 said they were treated with compassion, dignity and respect and they were involved in their care and decisions about their treatment.
  • Information about services and how to complain was available and easy to understand.
  • Patients said they found it easy to make an appointment with a named GP and that there was continuity of care, with urgent appointments available the same day.
  • The practice had good facilities and was well equipped to treat patients and meet their needs.
  • There was a clear leadership structure and staff felt supported by management. The practice proactively sought feedback from staff and patients, which it acted on.

However there were areas of practice where the provider should make improvements.

Importantly the provider should:

  • Ensure dissemination of learning from investigations is shared with all practice staff
  • Provide management support and appraisals for the practice manager.
  • Ensure blank prescription pads are logged and audited so that risks of misuse are mitigated.

Professor Steve Field (CBE FRCP FFPH FRCGP) 

Chief Inspector of General Practice

03 June 2014

During a routine inspection

Tollgate Health Centre is located on the outskirts of Colchester in Essex. The surgery provides primary medical services to 6,258 people and is situated in purpose built premises. The regulated activities we inspected were diagnostic and screening procedures, family planning and treatment of disease and disorder or injury.

We found all population groups benefitted from the open access surgery in the mornings, evening clinics and the ability to book appointments in advance when planning their healthcare. Older people and those with mobility issues found the building accessible with all clinics held on the ground floor. The health needs of people with long term conditions were managed with timely health checks and medication reviews. The midwifery service reported a positive working relationship with the practice. Take up rates for immunisation for children were higher than the national average for children. The trained chaperone service was well received by patients. Staff received requests for the service and therefore considered it invaluable for assisting and supporting vulnerable patients. For patients with mental health needs the practice operated a flexible and accessible service to ensure their individual needs were met in a timely and appropriate manner.

We identified that improvements were required in respect of plans in place to deal with emergencies that may interrupt the running of the service. We also found that the systems in place to ensure the timely review of patient blood test results were not effective.

3 June 2014

During an inspection of this service