A trouble-hit health provider has handed over running its final GP practice in the Medway Towns following another damning visit from the health watchdog.

Inspectors from the CQC (Care Quality Commission) assessed performance of the DMC Healthcare facility at Church View Practice in Rainham.

The report found the surgery required improvement overall and leadership was inadequate amid other concerns around services being safe and effective needing further work.

The inspection team issued DMC with an improvement notice but on January 1 new provider Maritime Health Partnership took control of the 6,000-patient surgery.

The partnership has also taken control at another former DMC-run surgery – the Albion Place Medical Practice in Maidstone – following concerns raised by CQC.

In the first inspection since DMC took charge at Albion Place, the CQC found "significant and ongoing issues of patients being exposed to the risk of harm".

Further enforcement action was taken against the private health provider after failing to meet conditions imposed.

At the Church View Practice, inspectors said DMC had not always acted on issues relating to infection prevention, vaccines had not been properly stored and blank prescriptions were not always kept securely.

Neither, said inspectors, did the practice demonstrate the prescribing competence of non-medical prescribers.

The report notes not all staff had been provided with appropriate induction periods or setting aside time for personal development and could not always demonstrate how they assured the competency of staff.

But the practice was found to be good in areas relating to being caring and responding to patients' needs.

Staff helped people to be involved in their decisions about care and treatment, respecting privacy and dignity and understanding the needs of the population and adjusting to patients' needs.

Patient feedback gathered by the inspection team was also above local and national averages, the inspection report added.

Leadership at the practice was criticised by the watchdog who were "not visible and accessible" and the company's "culture and strategy did not support high quality sustainable care".

They also found risk management was not effective and there was not enough skilled, qualified and experienced staff.

A full review has been promised into the failings of the DMC Healthcare contracts in Kent and Medway with the county's Clinical Commissioning Group (CCG) launching a review in 2020.

Speaking about being appointed to run Church View and Albion Place, Dr Pro Mallik, senior GP Partner, Maritime Health Partnership, said: ”We are keen to make sure GP services meet the needs of local people.

“We will be working closely with patients, stakeholders and partners to integrate systems and combine processes to make sure there is a seamless transition.

“I have worked and provided good care for patients in Kent and Medway for over two decades and have the greatest regard for this community.

“We are wholly invested in improving health outcomes and I am delighted Maritime Health Partnership will now be the long-term provider of GP services at Albion Place and Church View and that the existing clinical leads, GPs and teams are joining us in the wider Maritime Health Group.

“We look forward to working with registered patients and supporting their health and care needs and thank patients in advance for their support during the transition.”

The provider says it has brought in new staff to work with the familiar faces at the surgeries already.

Both practices have open lists and are taking new patients.

It is the latest episode in the long-running saga involving DMC and GP surgeries across Kent.

In 2020, the company was severely criticised in a range of inspections at surgeries it ran in Kent prompting it to walk away from and hand back £4.1m worth of contracts at nine surgeries across the Medway Towns to the Kent and Medway CCG, which said it would not be compensating DMC for.

There is just one DMC Healthcare facility remaining in Kent.

The contract for the Iwade Medical Practice near Sittingbourne is due to expire at the end of March and patients have already been told health bosses are "considering how GP services will be delivered" from April 1.

A spokesman for the Kent and Medway CCG said: "Our primary care contracts and quality teams work closely together. Recovery plans are in place for each of the former DMC GP practice sites in Medway and these continue to be monitored.

"New providers are in place at all Medway GP practices previously managed by DMC Healthcare and progress continues to be made.

"If any patient is not satisfied with the care they receive through their GP practice, they are encouraged to raise any concerns that they may have to the practice manager in the first instance. This allows the practice to work with the patient to resolve the issues."

Any patient with further concerns can contact NHS England at PO Box 16738, Redditch, B97 9PT by email at england.contactus@nhs.net or call 0300 311 22 33.