The Limes Medical Centre

Updated 5 August 2022

The registered provider is The Limes Medical Centre.

The Limes Medical Centre is located at Trinity Square, Margate, Kent, CT9 1QY. The practice is situated within the NHS Kent and Medway Clinical Commissioning Group (CCG) and has a general medical services contract with NHS England for delivering primary care services to the local community.

As part of our inspection we visited: The Limes Medical Centre, Trinity Square, Margate, Kent, CT9 1QY only where the provider delivers registered activities.

The Limes Medical Centre has a registered patient population of approximately 17,500 patients. The practice is located in an area with the highest deprivation score.

There are arrangements with other providers to deliver services to patients outside of the practice’s working hours.

The practice staff consists of three GP partners (two male and one female), one practice manager, one assistant practice manager, one nurse specialist (female), six practice nurses (all female), one nurse prescriber (female), one frailty nurse (female), one advance clinical practitioner (male), three paramedic practitioners (all female), one emergency nurse practitioner (female), three healthcare assistants (all female), one physiotherapist (male), as well as phlebotomy, reception and administration staff. The practice also employs locum GPs directly and supported the training of junior doctors.

The Limes Medical Centre is registered with the Care Quality Commission to deliver the following regulated activities: diagnostic and screening procedures; family planning; maternity and midwifery services; surgical procedures; treatment of disease, disorder or injury. A new GP partner had joined the practice and the provider was in the process of adding them to their registration with CQC.

Updated 5 August 2022

We carried out an announced focussed inspection at The Limes Medical Centre on 26 July 2022. The overall rating for the practice remains Good.

Why we carried out this inspection:

We carried out an announced focussed inspection on 26 July 2022 in response to information of concern we received regarding access to the practice. This report covers findings in relation to those requirements.

How we carried out the inspection:

Throughout the pandemic CQC has continued to regulate and respond to risk. However, taking into account the circumstances arising as a result of the pandemic, and in order to reduce risk, we have conducted our inspections differently.

This inspection was carried out in a way which enabled us to spend a minimum amount of time on site. This was in line with consent from the provider and in line with all data protection and information governance requirements.

This included:

• Requesting evidence from the provider.
• A short site visit.

Our judgement of the quality of care at this service is based on a combination of what we found when we inspected, information from our ongoing monitoring of data about services and information from the provider, patients, the public and other organisations.

This practice remains rated as Good overall.

The key question at this inspection is rated as:

Are services responsive? – Good

The areas where the provider should make improvements are:

• Continue to implement action plans and monitor improvements to patient satisfaction scores regarding access.
• Continue to engage with relevant processes to add the third GP partner to their registration with CQC.

Details of our findings and the evidence supporting our ratings are set out in the evidence table.

Dr Rosie Benneyworth BM BS BMedSci MRCGP

Chief Inspector of Primary Medical Services and Integrated Care