NHS Kent and Medway is putting in place arrangements for Dashwood Medical Centre in Ramsgate due to the upcoming retirement of long-serving GP Dr Michael Cardwell.
Dr Cardwell has been at the practice for 36 years but his retirement means the centre now needs new leadership.
Dashwood House, which is a5 GP practice with around 10,000 patients, was placed into special measures following an inspection by the Care Quality Commission at the end of last year.
The practice was issued two notices for breaches and warned it must ensure care and treatment is provided in a safe way for service users and establish effective systems and processes to ensure good governance.
The report, published in March, rated the service Inadequate overall.
Individual area ratings were inadequate for safety, require improvement for effective services, Good for caring, requires improvement for responsiveness and Inadequate for how the service is led.
A previous inspection in 2017 had found the surgery good overall and in all domains.
Dashwood Medical Centre has already made changes and expected to make further improvements.
It is understood Northdown surgery in Cliftonville may take over management of the centre but this has not been confirmed by NHS Kent and Medway. The St Anthony’s Way surgery has an overall good grading from the CQC. It was last inspected in 2016 and reviewed last month.
A spokesperson for NHS Kent and Medway said: “We are working on future arrangements for Dashwood Medical Centre, as Dr Cardwell is planning to retire after 36 years at the practice.”
