Care at a Sheppey GP’s surgery with 4,200 patients has been rated “inadequate” following an inspection by the Care Quality Commission (CQC).

Dr Srinivasan Subash Chandran’s surgery at the Sheerness Health Centre, Sheerness High Street, was put into special measures today. The doctor also operates a surgery in Queenborough.

Inspectors rated the practice "inadequate" for being safe and well-led but "good" for caring, requiring improvement for effectiveness and being responsive to people’s needs.

They have demanded:

• Reviews of patients who may be at risk of taking medicines highlighted in safety alerts;
• A system to register significant events, incidents and concerns;
• Disclosure and Barring Service (DBS) checks, or appropriate risk assessments, for all staff who act as chaperones.

The two other health centre-based surgeries - Dr S Patel and Dr S Witts - are unrelated to the matter.

Dr Fiona Armstrong, chairman of Swale Clinical Commissioning Group, said: “Patient safety is our priority, and we will continue to work alongside NHS England who commission GP services, and Dr Chandran’s practice in support of a consistent approach for all patients.

“We are encouraged to hear that the practice has committed to act upon all the recommendations.

"And we remain fully committed to engaging with our 19 GP member practices and the public, to make improvements towards high quality, safe health services in Swale.”

Ruth Rankine, NHS England's deputy chief inspector of general practice for the south, said: "Although the patients we met told us they were treated with compassion and dignity, we found the treatment they received was not always delivered in line with best practice.

“We found significant areas of concern, which is why we are placing the practice into special measures.

"We will continue to monitor this practice and will inspect it again in six months to check whether improvements have been made.

"I am hopeful the practice will do what is required for the sake of its patients.”

Under CQC’s new programme of inspections, all GP practices are rated according to whether they are safe, effective, caring, responsive and well-led.

Deborah Tomalin, head of commissioning at NHS England South (South East), said: “These inspections are to ensure every patient receives consistently high-quality services.

"For those practices rated as ‘inadequate’ there is a need for extra support. We work to help turn the affected practices around with the local Clinical Commissioning Group (CCG).”

She added: “Dr Chandran’s Practice has confirmed its commitment to make the necessary improvements.

"NHS England is working alongside NHS Swale CCG to support the practice to take the action needed to ensure it has the right processes in place to support the delivery of safe, high quality care to all its patients.”