The Meads Medical Practice Limited

Updated 21 August 2023

The Meads Medical Practice Limited is located at 29 Quartz Way, Sittingbourne, ME10 5AA.

The provider is registered with CQC to deliver the Regulated Activities: Diagnostic and screening procedures, Family planning, Maternity and midwifery services, Treatment of disease, disorder or injury and Surgical procedures.

The practice is situated within the Kent and Medway Integrated Care Board (ICB) and delivers General Medical Services (GMS) to a patient population of about 11,410. This is part of a contract held with NHS England.

The practice is part of a wider network of GP practices, Sittingbourne Primary Care Network (PCN).

Information published by UK Health Security Agency shows that deprivation within the practice population group is in the fifth lowest decile (5 out of 10). The lower the decile, the more deprived the practice population is relative to others.

According to the latest available data, the ethnic make-up of the practice area is 95.1% White, 1.9% Black, 1.4% Asian and 1.4% Mixed.

The age distribution of the practice population closely mirrors the local and national averages. There are more female patients registered at the practice compared to males.

The practice is led by 4 GP partners. The GP partners are supported by an advanced nurse practitioner, a nurse practitioner, 3 practice nurses, 2 healthcare assistants, a clinical pharmacist, a phlebotomist, a business manager, a practice manager and a team of reception/administration staff.

The Meads Medical Practice Limited is open between 8am and 7.30pm Monday to Wednesday and 8am to 6.30pm Thursday and Friday.

The practice offers a range of appointment types including book on the day, telephone consultations, video consultations and advance appointments.

Extended access is provided locally by Sittingbourne PCN, where late evening and weekend appointments are available. Out of hours services are arranged by NHS111.

Updated 21 August 2023

We carried out an announced comprehensive inspection at The Meads Medical Practice Limited on 27 June 2023. Overall, the practice is rated as Requires Improvement.

The ratings for each key question are as follows:

Safe – Requires Improvement

Effective – Requires Improvement

Caring – Good

Responsive - Good

Well-led – Good

Why we carried out this inspection

This inspection was a comprehensive inspection to provide the practice with their first rating since a change in their CQC registration in July 2019.

The full reports for previous inspections can be found by selecting the ‘all reports’ link for The Meads Medical Practice Limited on our website at www.cqc.org.uk

How we carried out the inspection

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

This included:

• Conducting staff interviews using video conferencing.
• Completing clinical searches on the practice’s patient records system and discussing findings with the provider.
• Reviewing patient records to identify issues and clarify actions taken by the provider.
• Requesting evidence from the provider.
• A short site visit.

Our findings

We based our judgement of the quality of care at this service 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.

We have rated this practice as Requires Improvement overall

We rated the practice as Requires Improvement for providing safe and effective services because:

• The practice’s systems, practices and processes kept people safe and safeguarded from abuse.
• Improvements were required to ensure an effective and standardised approach was applied to the safe care and treatment of patients prescribed high-risk medicines and those with long-term conditions.
• Recruitment checks were carried out in accordance with regulations and practice policy.
• Risks to patients, staff and visitors were being routinely assessed, monitored and managed effectively.
• Systems and processes for managing and responding to significant events were effective.
• The provider carried out quality improvement activity.

We rated the practice as Good for providing caring, responsive and well-led services because:

• Staff worked together and with other organisations to deliver effective care and treatment.
• Staff helped patients to be involved in decisions about care and treatment.
• Leaders had taken action to ensure the quality, safety and performance of the service.
• The practice had processes for managing issues, risks and performance.
• Leaders were aware of all required improvements to ensure the quality, safety and performance of the service.
• The practice’s processes for managing risks, issues and performance were effective.
• There were clear systems to support good governance.

We found breaches of regulations. The provider must:

• Ensure care and treatment is provided in a safe way to patients.

The areas where the provider should make improvements are:

• Continue with their plan to replace wall mounted hand soap dispensers.
• Continue with the embedding of newly implemented fire safety checks.
• Continue to monitor performance relating to cervical screening and promote uptake.

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

Dr Sean O’Kelly BSc MB ChB MSc DCH FRCA

Chief Inspector of Health Care