A GP with 1,800 patients on his books has threatened to quit after he was told he would be suspended from practising.

Dr Hendrik Beerstecher, who is the only GP at Canterbury Road Surgery, Sittingbourne, appeared at a Medical Practitioner’s Tribunal last month.

He was told he would be suspended for two months after he filmed a presentation he gave to inspectors from the health watchdog, the Care Quality Commission (CQC), in March 2016.

Once he finished giving the presentation, Dr Beerstecher turned off the camera but continued to record the inspectors’ voices with covert equipment, without them knowing.

It was then said he recorded a separate meeting in May 2016 with NHS England, held to discuss his development.

Afterwards, he published parts of the NHS England audio recording on the practice’s website and the CQC video was published on YouTube.

The tribunal, held at the service’s head office in Oxford Street, Manchester, granted an appeal period of 28 days, but Dr Beerstecher said he would not challenge the decision.

He said: “I started to make audio recordings of meetings as we used to have meetings and the minutes would not necessarily reflect what was said. I don’t think the recording itself was a problem.

'I don’t know yet what I’m going to do after the suspension but it’s unlikely that I’ll work in England again' - Dr Beerstecher

“I was very, very angry at the time because I was at the end of two or three years of repeated inspections and bad reports that I don’t think were justified.

“I don’t know yet what I’m going to do after the suspension but it’s unlikely that I’ll work in England again.”

The CQC inspected the surgery in March 2016 and rated it inadequate as it was placed in special measures.

Dr Beerstecher, who has about 1,800 patients, said he was not aware what would happen to them during the suspension period.

The CQC’s chief inspector for the area condemned the GP.

Deputy chief inspector of General Practice CQC’s South region, Ruth Rankine, said: “This was a very difficult time for our inspection team who should be able to undertake their roles without experiencing this type of treatment and distress.”

The suspension will begin on Monday, December 17.