A GP practice rated as “requires improvement” has filed an official complaint against independent health inspectors after staff were left distraught by their visit.

Dr Jonathan Watts, senior partner at the Farningham Surgery in Gorse Hill, said one member of staff was reduced to tears and the inspection “accelerated” the practice manager’s retirement.

The surgery, which is responsible for about 5,750 patients, has lodged a formal complaint with the Care Quality Commission (CQC).

The regulator of health and social care services rates all England’s GP practices according to whether they are safe, effective, caring, responsive and well-led.

The Farningham Surgery, also known as Braeside, was inspected last October and rated “good” in terms of being effective, caring and responsive.

However, it was ranked as “requires improvement” with regards to being well-led, and “inadequate” – the lowest ranking – for safe services. This led to an overall “requires improvement” rating.

The CQC report, published earlier this month, stated “patients were at risk of harm in relation to the management of medicines and associated training for staff”, and highlighted concerns relating to recruitment checks and the lack of systems and processes to monitor safety.

"What is not acceptable is conducting inspections in an intimidating/aggressive manner..." - Dr Jonathan Watts

With regards to services being well-led the report continued: “There were no arrangements in place for the management of risks... and there was no evidence that risks were discussed and monitored by the management team on a regular basis.”

GPs at the practice said, however, that patients were never at risk and many of the criticisms concerned “paperwork processes”.

Dr Watts said he was “very saddened” by the conduct of the CQC inspections and that they required their own improvements in terms of “quality and manner”.

He added: “Most of our failings were on certification of health care professionals (HCPs) and our practice manager (PM) not being able to produce evidence of up-to-date certification regarding phlebotomy and flu jab injections.

“Our PM had the documents but placed under pressure wasn’t allowed time to locate the documents and if [she] had known these were needed would have had them ready.

“Since the CQC, we have asked all staff to keep their own files and certificates and a copy be given to the PM to keep in the practice files.

“However, what is not acceptable is conducting inspections in an intimidating/aggressive manner.”

The surgery has formally complained and is awaiting a response.

Dr Watts said he was “extremely concerned” about what he described as “bullying tactics”.

One member of staff was left in tears, he claimed, and the practice manager had brought forward her retirement date as a result of the inspection.

It was the first CQC visit to Farningham Surgery, where patients are under the care of Dr Watts, Dr Jane Lindsay and Dr Davies Wragg.

The CQC was expected to return to the practice at a later date. The CQC had not responded to requests for a comment on the allegations by Dr Watts.