Health inspectors have placed a failing Kent GP surgery into special measures after a damning inspection.

Following a visit to the surgery in July, inspectors rated the Orchard House Surgery on Romney Marsh as inadequate overall.

Other areas inspected found the surgery was inadequate in being safe and well-led and required improvement in being effective.

But the report published by the Care Quality Commission (CQC) highlighted the surgery was good at being caring and responsive to patients.

The surgery in Bleak Road, Lydd, has more than 4,000 registered patients. The CQC today said it will be monitored and reviewed at a re-inspection in six months time.

Deputy chief inspector of general practice in the south Ruth Rankie said: "It is important that the people who are registered with Orchard House Surgery, can rely on getting the high quality care which everyone is entitled to receive from their GP.

“We found the practice needed to make improvements in a number of areas, including that it needed to introduce robust systems to ensure all staff have the necessary employment checks including a current Disclosure and Barring Service check and employment and character references.

"Orchard House Surgery has confirmed its commitment to making the necessary improvements set out by the CQC." Sarah Macdonald, NHS England

“We also found that patients were treated with compassion, dignity and respect, they were involved in their care and decisions about their treatment. The practice had good facilities and was equipped to treat patients and meet their needs."

She added the surgery would be revisited to see if the service had been improved but warned "further action" could be taken if it remained inadequate.

Director of commissioning for NHS England south east, Sarah Macdonald, said: "The majority of GP practices inspected are rated as ‘good’.

"These inspections are about ensuring that every patient consistently receives good quality services by identifying where any improvements need to be made.

“Orchard House Surgery has confirmed its commitment to making the necessary improvements set out by the CQC to make sure the practice has all the right processes in place to support the delivery of safe, quality care to all its patients, and we will support them in this."