Giles Watling, MP for Clacton, has written to the Care Quality Commission regarding the unacceptable waiting times for appointments and the delays in patients receiving their prescriptions and test results from the four GP surgeries run by Anglian Community Enterprise in Clacton.
Frinton Road Medical Centre, The Epping Close Surgery, Green Elms Surgery and Caradoc Surgery are the four GP surgeries under ACE, serving over 23,000 patients.
Giles said
"I have repeatedly raised my concerns with ACE regarding their management of these four surgeries. I have made every attempt to get redress for my constituent’s concerns; on March 8th I attended their Joint Patient Participation Group meeting, I wrote to ACE and the CCG on March 11th and finally on March 28th I met with the ACE Managing Director, Lynne Woodcock in Parliament. Despite repeated assurances regarding increasing staff levels and so on, the stream of complaints and concerns remains thick and fast.”
Giles added
“I have said to both CQC and the CCG we need a rapid improvement plan put in place here. At the time of writing, I have had over 78 people contact me regarding this situation. However, sadly, behind these 78 people, there will likely be hundreds who don’t bother or think to report it. It is vital these things are addressed and seen to be addressed, or we could end up in a situation where people start deciding not to try to see their local GP. That is not a safe situation to be in. I have been left with no choice but to escalate this further and I hope to see improvements in the services offered to constituents as a matter of urgency.”