Health watchdog rates The Limes Medical Centre Good across the board in latest inspection

The Limes Medical Centre

An inspection of The Limes Medical Centre in Margate carried out by the health watchdog last month (March) has rated the surgery good across all areas.

In March 2017 inspectors from the Care Quality Commission (CQC) placed the surgery in special measures following an inadequate rating.

But work at the centre to improve conditions resulted in it being taken out of special measures in August last year with a ‘requires improvement’ rating.

The latest inspection took place on March 27 with the report being published on Monday (April 16).

‘Responded fully’

In its report the CQC says: “After the inspection in August 2017 the practice wrote to us with an action plan outlining how they would make the necessary improvements to comply with the regulations. This inspection was an announced focused inspection carried out on 27 March to confirm that the practice had carried out their plan to meet the legal requirements in relation to the breaches in regulations that we identified in our previous inspection on 8 August 2017.

“The inspection carried out on 27 March found that the practice had responded fully to the concerns raised at the August 2017 inspection. The overall rating for the practice is now good.”

Chief Inspector Professor Steve Field said the practice has taken on additional staff, increased the different types of appointments available, addressed all the concerns raised at the August inspection and staff were up to date with all training.

The report adds: “With effect from 1 May 2018 the practice was planning to work with two other local practices to offer additional hours appointments Monday to Friday 5pm to 8pm.

“These appointments are planned to be available to patients from any of the three practices and will be offered at The Limes Medical Centre on Monday and Thursday and one of the other practices on Tuesday, Wednesday and Friday.

“This equates to an additional 11 appointments each week day available to patients from all three practices.”

‘Worked hard’

A spokesman from The Limes Medical Centre, in Trinity Square, said: “An inspection from the CQC that took place on March 27 and was published on April 16 has rated the surgery as Good in all areas.

“The staff have worked hard to meet the standards and ensure that patients receive the best care possible. The partners and management would like to thank the staff team for their professional support.”

Garlinge surgery

Last week the centre informed patients at the Garlinge GP surgery, operated by The Limes, of its possible closure.

In a letter to patients the medical centre said: “Although patients have been able to use the Garlinge branch since July 2016, the premises no longer allow us to offer the best care for our patients. It is therefore with regret that after a lot of discussion and consideration the practice is proposing to close the branch surgery.”

The NHS Thanet Clinical Commissioning Group‘s Primary Care Commissioning Committee makes a decision on the proposed closure on Thursday 17 May. Until then it remains open as usual.

2 Comments

  1. I hope that this surgery will remain open, as the tories and their lackeys in the Kent areas think Thanet only needs 3 surgeries and a downgraded hospital

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