Commissioners alongside leaders at Anglian Community Enterprise (ACE) have mutually decided that services at Green Elms, Frinton Road and Epping Close surgeries will be transferred in the new year.

Anglian Community Enterprise, which is a community healthcare provider, wants to focus on its community services.  ACE has been running primary care services in the local area for over 18 years.  Back in 2017 the contract to run these three practices was put out for procurement by the North East Essex Clinical Commissioning Group (NEECCG) and was won by ACE.

ACE Chief Executive Frank Sims said: “This has been a really hard decision because we have been in the sector for many years and in that time we have worked tirelessly to provide the best service in some challenging environments.  In the last 3 months we have seen dramatic improvements and thanks must go to those staff who have worked diligently to improve the service both at the surgeries and the telephone answering hub.  Patient satisfaction has increased considerably with 91% of patients telling us that they have had a good or very good experience on the day and 78% said their experience on the telephone was either good or very good.

“As a social enterprise, our focus is on providing healthcare services to and investing in the local community, and we think we can do this best by supporting (and not running) primary care services.  Consequently following discussions between the ACE Board and the NEECCG, we have jointly agreed to transfer the contract to another provider which will enable us to focus on our core business of serving people in the community.”

NHS England and the NEECCG, which commission GP services, have been in discussion with Dr Farrukh Shamshad at Ranworth Surgery in Clacton-on-Sea who has agreed to take on the three GP surgeries under a 12 month caretaker contract.

Dr Ed Garratt, Chief Executive of North East Essex CCG, Ipswich and East CCG, and West Suffolk CCG, said: “We are very grateful for all the hard work that ACE staff have put in to deliver improvements to the services at these three practices, particularly over the last three months. By mutual agreement the decision has been made to transfer the services and all parties will endeavour to ensure as smooth a transition as possible for both patients and staff.

“We are assured that Ranworth will build on the work that ACE has done so far for the benefit of the patients in these three practices.”

Dates have yet to be confirmed but will be advised as soon as all parties have agreed on the most safe, effective and careful transition of services for Green Elms, Frinton Road and Epping Close surgeries.