Margate PCN

Both child and older age groups exceed national shares across 69,845 registered patients

Across 69,845 registered patients, Margate PCN faces dual-generation demand. Patients aged 0-17 make up 20.9% of the list, above Thanet (18.7%), NHS Kent and Medway ICB (20.7%) and England (19.6%). Those aged 65+ represent 20.7%, below Thanet (23.6%) but exceeding the ICB (19.9%) and England (17.9%). Based on Census usual residents rather than registered patients, 92.4% identify as White, compared with 93.0% in Thanet, 88.6% in the ICB and 81.1% nationally, leaving a 7.6% ethnic minority share. Unverified projections anticipate 5.9% list growth to 2030 (England 2.3%).

Core20 deprivation affects 50.7% of patients and spans 56.0 pp across practices

Across Margate PCN, 50.7% of registered patients live in Core20 areas, exceeding Thanet (36.8%), NHS Kent and Medway ICB (17.1%) and England (21.0%), with an average IMD decile of 3.9 (England 5.5). Practice concentration spans 56.0 pp, from 7.9% at Mocketts Wood Surgery to 63.9% at The Limes Medical Centre, while Northdown Surgery records 52.4%. Catchment estimates indicate about 30,800 Core20 residents, though practice-level reconciliation is unavailable. With deprivation well above benchmarks, weighting clinical capacity toward the highest-deprivation lists targets the PCN's greatest concentration of need.

PLUS groups and inclusion health

Margate PCN records 883 patients on the severe mental illness register (1.3%) and 517 with learning disabilities (0.7%), both above England (1.0% and 0.6%). Catchment care homes total 45 with 1,380 beds, while Thanet district data records 37 rough sleepers and a 10.3% unpaid care rate. With recorded SMI and learning disability prevalence above England, protecting structured physical health checks and annual reviews for these groups is the key workload.

Severe mental illness: physical health checks

SMI prevalence is 1.3% (England 1.0%). Recorded annual checks trail England: blood pressure is 73.8% (England 83.4%) and BMI is 71.2% (England 82.1%). Separate physical-health check elements show incomplete cardiovascular screening across the severe mental illness cohort.

Clinical focus: hypertension and lipids

Hypertension case-finding and control

Hypertension prevalence is 16.9% (11,843 patients), exceeding England (15.2%) and the ICB (16.2%) but trailing Thanet (18.8%). Over 2023 to 2025, register growth of +1.9% lagged Thanet (+2.7%), the ICB (+5.1%), and England (+5.6%), yielding a crude modelled gap of up to 1,276 patients against Thanet. Conversely, blood pressure control under 80 rose +16.5% over three years (England +3.2%) to 68.5% (England 67.8%), with 70.7% treated to target (England 70.3%). Slower register growth alongside strong control may reflect prioritisation of established reviews over case-finding, though unverified locally. Stronger control than England alongside lagging register growth indicates an opportunity to prioritise systematic case-finding for unrecorded patients.

Lipids and statins

Lipid-lowering therapy lags England across high-risk groups: QRISK 20% and over sits at 59.2% (England 63.6%), chronic kidney disease at 64.3% (England 70.3%), and diabetes with cardiovascular disease at 81.0% (England 84.4%). Fewer at-risk patients receive lipid-lowering therapy than England rates imply, highlighting an opportunity to prioritise structured recall audits.

For lipid-modifying drugs, the PCN spends £2.30 per item against £1.86 in England, £2.10 in Thanet, and £1.90 in the ICB. Across 117,413 items, this is £51,662 more than at England's unit cost. Prescribing unit costs exceed comparators while treatment rates lag, indicating that reviewing formulary choices could help target resources toward undertreated cohorts.

Clinical focus: respiratory, cancer register and children

Respiratory

COPD prevalence is 2.8% (England 1.9%), with 73.2% of 1,989 patients reviewed in 12 months (England 76.4%) following +14.1% three-year growth (England +2.8%). Conversely, asthma prevalence is 6.4% (England 6.6%), but only 52.5% of 4,205 patients received an annual review (England 65.7%), leaving about 2,000 unreviewed. Asthma prescribing in children aged 5-19 reaches 1,761 items per 1,000 (England 1,488). Simultaneously, smoking cessation support fell 15.2 pp over 2023 to 2025 (England +0.1 pp) to 81.5% (England 94.2%), indicating substantial gaps in preventive and structured respiratory follow-up.

Cancer register and children's immunisation

Recorded cancer prevalence is 4.3% with 2,990 registered patients (England 3.8%). In child health, 24-month MMR1 coverage reaches 90.5% (England 88.3%). At age five, MMR2 coverage is 78.9% (England 82.8%) and 4-in-1 pre-school booster coverage is 77.1% (England 80.9%), both below the 95.0% target.

Early cancer diagnosis

In 2022, 55.6% of staged cancers in NHS Kent and Medway ICB were diagnosed at stage 1 or 2 (4,661 of 8,384 staged cases), at a distance of -19.4 pp from the 75.0% national ambition and requiring 1,627 additional early-stage diagnoses to meet it; known-stage completeness was 63.6% (8,384 of 13,189 registered cancers). While ICB figures reflect wider system staging rather than PCN performance, primary care screening across Margate PCN lags regional benchmarks. Cervical screening coverage for women aged 25-49 is 66.0% (ICB 69.9%, England 66.8%) and breast screening coverage is 67.6% (ICB 71.6%, England 69.9%). Lagging screening coverage across the PCN may delay early detection along shared pathways, making.

Cancer waits, diagnostics and community services

Cancer waits and diagnostics, Jul 2026 (provisional)

In July 2026, East Kent Hospitals University NHS Foundation Trust achieved 70.0% on the 62-day cancer referral to treatment standard (distance of -15.0 pp to the 85.0% standard), below Medway NHS Foundation Trust (81.6%), the ICB (75.9%) and England (71.2%), though ahead of Mid and South Essex NHS Foundation Trust (50.2%). On the 28-day faster diagnosis standard, East Kent Hospitals reached 71.3% (standard 75.0%, distance: -3.7 pp; ICB 76.8%, England 79.3%). Diagnostics show pressure: 63.0% of non-obstetric ultrasound and 47.6% of MRI patients waited 6+ weeks at East Kent Hospitals, versus 19.6% and 21.4% nationally.

Phone access spans 36.7 pp and vaccination achievement spans 47.3 pp between practices

In 2025/26, QOF clinical-domain achievement ranged from 96.8% at Bethesda Medical Centre to 100.0% at Northdown Surgery. Conversely, vaccination and immunisation achievement spanned 47.3 pp, from 15.9% at The Limes Medical Centre to 63.1% at Mocketts Wood Surgery (England 55.2%). High clinical domain points reflect threshold attainment rather than uniform population coverage.

Smoking cessation offers fell 15.2 pp while heart failure reviews rose +19.7%

Between 2023 and 2025, smoking cessation support fell 15.2 pp (England +0.1 pp). Register growth trailed England in hypertension (+1.9% vs +5.6%) and stroke (+0.4% vs +2.3%), while asthma prevalence fell 1.8% (England +0.5%). Conversely, clinical reviews and management outpaced national growth: heart failure reviews rose +19.7% (England +8.7%), hypertension blood pressure control under 80 rose +16.5% (England +3.2%), and COPD reviews rose +14.1% (England +2.8%). This pattern could reflect prioritisation of established reviews over routine case-finding and prevention, testable through clinical register audits.

What the data can't tell us: gaps and local assets

Options for the PCN

Each option in full

Provenance and audit trail

Figures are the profile's, drawn from Coplug indicator tables: census, deprivation and QOF measures, MHCLG, Rough sleeping snapshot in England: autumn 2025, OHID, Fingertips diabetes by frailty status: HbA1c control (93712, 93713) and OHID, Fingertips falls: emergency admissions, 65+ and 65 to 79 (22401, 22402), accidental-fall deaths (94002). Every recommended action and option is the profile's own; the evidence-base statements that support them — what each register is the cohort for, and the national policy it serves — are quoted from Coplug's indicator catalogue. No recommendation in this report is authored outside the profile and that catalogue. ICB- and provider-level data (page 8) describes the system the PCN sits in and is not read as PCN performance.

Data sources

Every figure in this profile comes from a dataset below, at the level and period stated. Nothing published above PCN level is read as PCN performance.

Methods, data-quality notes and limitations