• Doctor
  • GP practice

Abbey Field Medical Centre

Overall: Good read more about inspection ratings

Ypres Road, Colchester, Essex, CO2 7UW (01206) 517106

Provided and run by:
Abbey Field Medical Centre

Important: This service was previously registered at a different address - see old profile
Important: This service was previously registered at a different address - see old profile

Latest inspection summary

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Our current view of the service

Good

Updated 20 June 2024

Date of assessment: 16 July to 6 August 2024. We assessed 22 quality statements across safe, effective, responsive, and well-led key questions and have combined the scores for these areas with scores based on the rating from the last inspection, which was good. Though the assessment of these quality statements indicated a new area of concern since the last inspection, overall, the practice is rated good, and all key questions are rated as good. At this assessment, we found there was a culture of learning from safety events and when things went wrong, staff acted to ensure people remained safe. People received effective care and treatment that met their needs. Arrangements were in place to respond to the individual needs of people and practice leaders continued work to improve equity in access. The way the practice was led and managed promoted the delivery of high-quality care. Effective arrangements were in place for partnership working and for improvement and innovation. However, we found improvements were needed to ensure medicines were managed safely. We found 1 breach of regulation for medicines optimisation. We have asked the provider for an action plan in response to the concerns found at this assessment. Abbey Field Medical Centre is a GP practice in Colchester, with 2 branch sites nearby in Greenstead and Elmstead Market, which has a dispensary. There were approximately 21,808 people registered with the service at the time of our assessment. Deprivation within the practice population group is in the fourth lowest decile (4 of 10). The lower the decile, the more deprived the practice population is relative to others.

People's experience of the service

Updated 20 June 2024

Feedback from people, and their carers was mostly positive. This included comments about the professionalism, knowledge and friendliness of clinical staff and how people were involved in their care and treatment. There was mixed feedback mainly regarding difficulty accessing an appointment, accessing the practice by telephone, and the helpfulness of reception staff. Feedback from the friends and family test from July 2023 to June 2024 showed 92% of people would recommend the practice. We reviewed the National GP patient survey, published in July 2023. The 4 indicators for access were in line with the England and local averages and had improved in the previous year. There was an active patient participation group (PPG) who met with practice staff every 2 months and represented the views of people using the service. Representatives from the PPG described how managers and PPG members had made positive changes because of feedback, such as upskilling nursing staff, so they were able to prescribe. Access to transport to the practice had also been improved through the use of a dial a ride scheme, where people could pay a small charge to be picked up from home, taken to their appointment, and dropped home again. The provider shared details of our Give Feedback on Care (GFC) process on their website but we did not receive any additional feedback through this process.