The health watchdog has taken urgent action to remove the registration of a doctors' surgery amid fears thousands of patients could be at risk.

The Care Quality Commission (CQC) has made the decision following an inspection of The Stone Cross and West Drive health practices in Chatham.

The organisation's head of inspections, Neil Cox, said: “Following an inspection on August 5, CQC has taken urgent action to suspend the registration.

"We took this action because we believe if we didn’t, patients using the service may be exposed to the risk of harm.

"The provider has the right to appeal and further information will be published by the CQC when we are able to do so."

The CQC will be revisiting the surgery shortly, but no timescale has yet been made.

All four GPs covering the two centres are currently not practising.

No further details about their circumstances are available at this time.

Patients are still able to call the surgeries and order prescriptions from both sites. Reception staff are working to make alternative arrangements for patients.

Sukh Singh, NHS Kent and Medway Director of Primary Care, said: “GP services at Stonecross and West Drive Surgery in Chatham are now being provided by the Medway Medical Group.

“The planned change was accelerated by NHS Kent and Medway following the CQC suspending the work of the previous provider to ensure patients continued access.

“Medway Medical Group has been looking after patients since Friday 12 August and are working with NHS Kent and Medway to prioritise the issues highlighted by the CQC.”

A statement from Medway Medical Group said: "We are looking forward to working with patients to improve issues highlighted by the recent CQC inspection.

"Although they have enjoyed working at the practice and feel privileged to have served the local community, Dr Rao and Dr Chitgopker were planning to retire for the past two years but delayed their retirement due to the Coronavirus pandemic, they retired on 12 August 2022.

"We apologise that we were not able to make this announcement earlier but priority had to be given to making sure patients continue to receive the care they needed. We have kept the patient participation group informed about the changes and will continue to do so."

Patients at the practice in Luton described the situation as "chaos".

Roger Dewie. of Dale Street, Chatham said he had been trying to see a doctor for two years.

The 70-year-old diabetic, said: "I've just given up. I don't want to discuss my details with a receptionist, why should I?"

He added that he had an appointment for an infected toe with a nurse, but it was cancelled.

Pam Orchard, 75 of First Avenue, Chatham, said she gave up with trying to see a doctor for a foot injury and went to MedOCC.

She said: "I have been with this surgery for 13 years and this is the worst it's been. They can't keep blaming everything on the backlog caused by Covid.

"In the end MedOCC sent me away saying go and see your doctor, but you just can't - even if you call just after 8 like they say. I've been on the phone trying for 15 to 20 minutes at a time."

A 64-year-old who did not want to be named, said: "It's chaos.They don't know what they are doing. It's terrible"

He added as he was epileptic and he was unable to drive to an alternative practice.

Inspectors from the independent regulators paid a sudden visit to the centre in Street End Road in Luton after which staff were called to a meeting announcing the suspension.

The CQC carried out an announced comprehensive inspection at Stonecross and West Drive Surgery over two days in August 2019. The overall rating for the practice was "requires improvement".

The provider then drew up an action plan outlining how it would make the necessary improvements to comply with the regulations.

This was followed up with an announced visit to both surgeries in August 2021 to confirm the legal requirements in relation to the identified breaches outlined in the previous inspection had been met.

The practice was rated "inadequate" overall, placed into special measures and issued warning notices.

The latest CQC report says approximately 8,721 patients are registered at the surgery.

If you have any questions about this change please email the surgery on stonecross.surgery@nhs.net.