A DOCTORS surgery which serves more than 1,600 Canvey people has been branded “inadequate” and placed in special measures.

Leigh Beck Surgery, in Long Road, was given the lowest possible rating in all categories by the Care Quality Commission.

Dr Julius Sodipo, who runs the practice, has been warned he faces having his registration cancelled if he does not improve the service.

Professor Steve Field, chief inspector of general practice, said: “Practices placed in special measures will be inspected again within six months.

“If insufficient improvements have been made such that there remains a rating of inadequate for any population group, key question or overall, we will take action in line with our enforcement procedures to begin the process of preventing the provider from operating the service.

“This will lead to cancelling their registration or to varying the terms of their registration within six months if they do not improve.”

The report said: “Staff reported incidents, near misses and concerns, but the investigations lacked details, analysis and lessons learned were not communicated effectively to mitigate the risk of recurrence.

“Patients were at risk of harm because systems and processes were not known or adhered to sufficiently to keep patients safe.”

The CQC also found medicine was not being managed properly. Stock records were inadequate and vaccination medicines were being stored in a fridge above their recommended temperature.