The Limes Medical Centre

Updated 21 January 2025

The Limes Medical Centre is a GP practice and provides a range of primary medical services. The GP practice is registered with the Care Quality Commission under the Health and Social Care Act 2008 to provide the following regulated activities, diagnostic and screening procedures, family planning, midwifery and maternity services, surgical procedures and treatment of disease, disorder or injury. We carried out an announced assessment of 28 quality statements, under the safe, effective, responsive, and well-led key questions on 8 May 2024. The assessment was carried out remotely and included an on-site assessment. The service was rated as inadequate for key questions of safe and well-led and inadequate overall. Effective and responsive was rated as requires improvement. As a result of our assessment findings, this service was placed in special measures. A Notice of Decision was issued to the provider on 24 June 2024 due to the significant failings we identified relating to the regulations of safe care and treatment and good governance. The service provided an action plan of improvements. We carried out an unannounced assessment on 29 April 2025 to follow up on the actions that had been implemented since the last review. The assessment was unannounced as we had received a number of whistleblowing concerns about the safety of the practice. We reviewed 28 quality statements, under the safe, effective, caring, responsive and well-led key questions. The assessment was carried out remotely and included an on-site inspection. The service has been rated as requires improvement for the safe, caring and responsive key questions, good for effective and for the well led key question, the practice has been rated as inadequate. You can find more details in the evidence category findings.

Updated 21 January 2025

We recognise the pressure that practices are currently working under, and the efforts staff are making to maintain levels of access for their patients. At the same time, our strategy makes a commitment to deliver regulation driven by people’s needs and experiences of care. At our previous assessment, we found inconsistencies in appointments and availability for people accessing care and treatment. At the time of the last assessment we were told that a new telephone service was being installed to increase access into the practice. We found at this assessment that inconsistencies continued with appointment access and the practice was still awaiting a new telephone service. Results from the National GP Patient Survey showed the practice were in line with local averages for telephone access and overall experience of their GP Practice. Feedback from people, relatives and professionals who worked closely with the service were inconsistent. Whilst outcomes from national patient survey results were satisfied in some areas in relation to their contact and experience of the service, we identified shortfalls in relation to the culture of the practice and how this had impacted on people’s experience. You can find more details of our concerns in the evidence category findings.