A Queen’s Park GP’s surgery has been rated “inadequate” by health chiefs and placed in special measures.

Park House Medical Centre in Harvist Road received the bottom grade by the Care Quality Commission (CQC) for being safe, effective and well-led.

Following the inspection in May 2019, Park House was also rated "requires improvement", one level up from "inadequate", for being responsive - but "good", second out of four possible ratings, for being caring.

CQC inspectors found staff did not always have the information they needed to deliver safe care and treatment. Nor were there appropriate systems in place for the safe management of medicines.

Specific services rated "inadequate" included care of dementia patients, families, children and young people and those with long-term health conditions.

The practice did not learn and make improvements when things went wrong, the report added.

Management teams were also unable to show that staff always had the skills, knowledge and experience to carry out their roles.

Leaders could not show that they had the capacity and skills to deliver high quality, sustainable care and overall governance arrangements were ineffective.

Head of inspection for primary medical services in London, Antony Hall, said putting the medical centre into special measures should give people who use the service "the reassurance that the care they get should improve".

He said if there were no required improvements in six months, "CQC could escalate to urgent enforcement action".

"I note that caring at the practice is rated as 'good'," he said.

"I would like to see the level of care in all categories reach this standard in the future."

The practice must now ensure treatment is provided in a safe way and ensure the right people are employed.

Improvements included developing a staff rota to ensure adequate cover, promoting privacy at the reception desk, and taking action to review performance in areas of low patient satisfaction.

Park House Medical Centre said they were "disappointed" and "working hard" to address the CQC feedback. "The overall rating of 'inadequate'does not accurately represent the care we give and feedback we receive from our patients," they added.

"We have fed back our disillusionment with the process and the multiple factual inaccuracies contained within the report to CQC."

Cllr Ketan Sheth, chair of Brent's wellbeing scrutiny committee, said it was "very disappointing news".

He added: "I will continue to work with our local NHS partners and regulators to ensure that none of our residents are adversely impacted and that they continue to receive the best possible GP healthcare."