A GP practice with more than 2,000 patients has been placed in special measures, following an inspection by the Care Quality Commission.

A specialist team of inspectors rated Brompton Medical Centre as inadequate for being safe and well led, although it was rated good for being responsive to people’s needs.

The regulators said it required improvement for being effective.

The practice, which is in Garden Street, Brompton, run by Dr Bijendra Narayan Singh, has been given an overall rating of inadequate.

Ruth Rankine, deputy chief inspector of general practice for the CQC, said: “In many respects the practice of Dr Bijendra Narayan Singh provides a caring and responsive service to its patients.

"But it is important that everyone who is registered with the surgery can rely on getting the safe, high quality care which they are entitled to receive from their GP.

“In particular we found the practice of Dr Bijendra Narayan Singh inadequate for safety and inadequate for being well led, which is why we are placing the practice into special measures, so that it can get the support that it needs.

“After a period of six months we will inspect again to check whether sufficient improvements have been made.

"If we find that the practice remains inadequate, we will consider taking further action.”

Sarah Macdonald, director of commissioning at NHS England said: "These inspections are about ensuring that every patient, anywhere across the country, receives consistently high quality services by identifying issues so improvements can be made.

"While Brompton Medical Centre has been rated as good for providing caring and responsive services to patients, the inspection has identified actions the practice needs to take to make sure it has all the right processes in place to support the delivery of safe, high quality care to all its patients.”

"NHS England will work alongside NHS Medway Clinical Commissioning Group (CCG) to support the practice to take the action needed."

The inspection found patients said they were treated with compassion, dignity and respect and they were involved in their care and decisions about their treatment.

But the areas of practice where the provider needs to make improvements were:

• Appropriate recruitment checks had not been undertaken prior to the employment of locum GPs recruited directly by the practice.
• The practice was unable to demonstrate they were able to respond to a medical emergency, in line with national guidance, before the arrival of an ambulance.
• Significant issues that threatened the delivery of safe care were not identified or adequately managed.
• Risks to patients were not consistently assessed and well managed.

The practice, which consists of one GP, one practice manager and a nurse, has 2,054 patients.