The Limes surgery in Margate has been placed in special measures

The Limes Medical Centre

The Limes GP surgery in Margate has been rated Inadequate and placed in special measures by the Care Quality Commission (CQC).

In a report published this week the health watchdog said three inspection categories were inadequate and two require improvement.

The report reveals that “Significant issues that threatened the delivery of safe care were not identified or adequately managed, “ but “Patients said they were treated with compassion, dignity and respect and they were involved in their care and decisions about their treatment.”

The CQC noted that patients could not always get appointments and some staff were not aware of their “duty of candour.”

Chief Inspector Professor Steve Field said: “I am placing this practice in special measures. Practices placed in special measures will be inspected again within six months. If sufficient improvements have not been made so a rating of inadequate remains for any population group, key question or overall, we will take action in line with our enforcement procedures to begin the process of preventing the provider from operating the service.

“This will lead to cancelling their registration or to varying the terms of their registration within six months if they do not improve.

“The practice will be kept under review and if needed could be escalated to urgent enforcement action. Where necessary, another inspection will be conducted within a further six months, and if there is not enough improvement we will move to close the service.

“Special measures will give people who use the practice the reassurance that the care they receive should improve.”

 Healthwatch Kent

 Steve Inett, from Healthwatch Kent, said: “The Care Quality Commission has today announced that The Limes GP practice in Thanet is to be rated Inadequate following an inspection.   This is especially concerning given the number of patient who have recently joined this surgery following the closure of two other local surgeries.

“As the independent voice for patients in Kent, we have been hearing about peoples’ experience of The Limes practice.  We share all the feedback we receive directly with the Care Quality Commission and Thanet Clinical Commissioning Group. We would encourage anybody who has an experience of The Limes, either good or not so good, to share it with us. We will anonymise your experience and use it to help improve services at The Limes.”

Contact Healthwatch Kent at any time for free on 0808 801 0102 or email[email protected]