An 'inadequate' Plumstead doctors surgery has been suspended for a further six months.

Services at The Slade surgery, in The Slade, Plumstead, run by Dr Asha Sen, have been suspended for six more months following an initial six month suspension in March this year.

The practice had not made 'sufficient improvements' since being placed in special measures after a CQC inspection found that patients were 'at risk of harm'.

The report stated that safety processes 'were not in place in relation to infection control, risk assessment, fire safety, recruitment processes, medicine management and prescribing practice'.

Ursula Gallagher, Deputy Chief Inspector of General Practice, said: “It is important that the people who are registered with Dr Asha Sen can rely on getting the high quality care which everyone is entitled to receive from their GP.

“We returned to inspect Dr Sen’s practice again in September to check whether it had made sufficient improvements to allow the suspension to end.

"Although not rated on this occasion we found that the practice had not made sufficient improvements to the service and it will continue to be suspended for a further six months.

“Issues around training, infection control, medicine management and fire safety had not reach the levels required for us to be able to end the suspension.”

There was evidence that some improvements had been made. 

The practice had been redecorated, installed a lockable cupboard to store prescrition pads, and kept a record of prescription paper batch numbers to monitor their use.

Nurses had also recieved updated basic life support training.