West Road Surgery

Updated 24 January 2024

West Road Surgery is based on the 1st Floor, 183-195 North Road in Westcliff On Sea in Essex. There is a lift for patients with mobility issues.

The provider 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 has a patient list of just over 10,000 patients.

Information published by Office for Health Improvement and Disparities shows that 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.

According to the latest available data, the ethnic make-up of the practice area is 86% White, 7% Asian, 4% Black, with smaller percentages of people who describe themselves as Mixed or as another ethnic background.

The age distribution of the practice population is similar to the local and national averages. The practice has more younger people and fewer older people than the average practice (locally and nationally).

The practice had a higher percentage of patients with depression and mental health conditions, and a higher percentage of patients with a learning disability than the average practice (locally and nationally).

The practice had struggled to recruit to vacant posts, including for a salaried GP, and was using locum staff to cover the vacancies.

Staff told us that there had been long-standing issues with the telephony system, that the partners had tried unsuccessfully to have resolved. The practice was due to receive a new, cloud-based, phone system with additional features to improve the patient-experience in 2024, under a national scheme to improve access.

There is a team of 4 GP partners. There is a vacancy for a salaried GP, with the post currently covered by locum staff. There is a nurse and a health care assistant, and the practice has recently recruited an additional nurse and a health care assistant. Some other staff members were employed for the practice through a local arrangement, including a physiotherapist and a pharmacist. There is a team of reception/administration staff and practice manager.

The practice is open between 8am to 6.30 pm Monday to Friday. The practice offers a range of appointment types including book on the day, telephone consultations and advance appointments.

Late evening and weekend appointments are available at other locations in the local area, through a local scheme. Outside of these times patients are directed to call NHS 111.

Updated 24 January 2024

We carried out an announced assessment of the Responsive key question at West Road Surgery on 6 December 2023. Overall, the practice is rated as good.

Safe - not inspected, rating of good carried forward from previous inspection

Effective - not inspected, rating of good carried forward from previous inspection

Caring - not inspected, rating of good carried forward from previous inspection

Responsive - requires improvement

Well-led - not inspected, rating of good carried forward from previous inspection

We recognise the pressure that practices are currently working under and the efforts staff are making to maintain levels of access for their patients. At the same time, our strategy makes a commitment to deliver regulation driven by people’s needs and experiences of care.

Although we saw the practice was attempting to improve access, this was not yet reflected in the GP patient survey data or other sources of patient feedback. Therefore, the rating is requires improvement, as ratings depend on evidence of impact and must reflect the lived experience that people were reporting at the time of inspection.

Following our previous inspection on 3 April 2019, the practice was rated good overall and for all key questions.

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

Why we carried out this inspection

We carried out this inspection in line with our inspection priorities, to look specifically at access and the other areas covered by the Responsive key question.

How we carried out the inspection/review

This assessment was carried out in a way without the need for a visit. We:

• assessed data
• spoke to staff using video conferencing
• looked at written evidence using video conferencing.

Our findings

We based our judgement of the quality of care at this service on a combination of:

• information from our ongoing monitoring of data about services and
• information from the provider, patients, the public and other organisations.

We found that:

• Patients were not always able to access care and treatment in a timely way.
• There were particular issues with the ease with which patients could contact the practice by telephone. The practice had made some changes to try to improve telephone access, but were constrained by the telephone system in place. The telephone system was due to be replaced, as part of a national initiative, by March 2024.
• Complaints were listened and responded to and used to improve the quality of care.

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

• Continue to monitor and take steps to improve telephone and appointment access.

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 Health Care