A MEDICAL centre catering for 10,000 patients has been put into special measures and threatened with closure...for falling behind on its paperwork.

The Wakering Medical Centre was inspected by the Care Quality Commission in March.

A report published this month revealed patients who took part in a survey as part of the inspection felt they were treated with compassion, dignity and respect and were able to book appointments the same day.

Inspectors also noted the practice has good facilities and was well equipped to treat patients and their needs.

However, the surgery failed to provide evidence of adequate safety testing of electrical equipment, adequate reporting of incidents and errors, and health and safety checks, including for signs of bacteria legionella.

Inspectors also ruled not enough staff had received police checks, prescription pads weren't safeguarded enough and fridge temperatures were not monitored sufficiently.

A patient participation group was also lacking as it was in the process of being formed.

In his report, Professor Steve Field, chief inspector of general practice with the commission, said this lack of paperwork was enough for the surgery to be threatened with closure.

He said: "Practices placed in special measures will be inspected again in six months. If insufficient improvements have been made 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."

The threat of closure applies if just one area of the inspection is deemed inadequate.

The professor added: "The practice will be kept under review and if needed could be escalated to urgent enforcement action. Where necessary, another inspection will be conducted within a further six months, and if there is not enough improvement we will move to close the service."

The surgery, which paid more than £3,000 for the inspection, hopes it will escape closure after dedicating hours of work to improving its administrative procedures.

Dr Mike Saad from the practice in High Street, Great Wakering, said: "We would like to thank the commission for their assessment and comprehensive report. We pride ourselves on the excellent clinical care we have always provided to our patients - as is evident in the report. The statistics from the National Patient Survey, Friends and Family Tests, Quality Outcome Framework, and Care Quality Commission Patient Survey support this.

"However, inspectors have picked up on areas of concern, as we were unable to evident our work, mainly in the way we conduct our business, communications among our team members, risk assessments, owning our practise policies, not replacing our patient participation group in a timely manner, etc. We take these concerns seriously and have already changed the way we work to further improve the care we provide to our patients."

Dr Saad added: "We would to take this opportunity to thank our patients and staff members for their continued support and trust in us."