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GP fails to overturn suspension.

A GP has been unable to run his London practice until this month (May 2016) after failing to overturn a decision to suspend his registration.

A tribunal unanimously dismissed Dr Mujib ul Haq Khan’s appeal against a Care Quality Commission (CQC) decision, saying it was an “inescapable” conclusion people had been exposed to the risk of harm.

It is the first time the CQC has used this type of enforcement power against a GP.

The decision has meant that Dr Khan was barred from running Granville Road Surgery in Southfields. His 800 patients were temporarily moved to nearby practices by NHS England.

CQC deputy chief inspector of general practice, Ruth Rankine, said: "This case saw repeated breaches of the law and patients were put at risk.

"We do not take enforcement action lightly, but are satisfied that the tribunal has agreed with our assessment that patients were at risk at this practice."

In its judgement, the tribunal said: "The conclusion that, in Dr Khan’s practice, persons, patients and staff and doctors, were exposed to the risk of harm was inescapable. That risk would have continued without action on the part of the CQC."

The CQC took urgent action in January 2015 after its inspectors found failings including a lack of available emergency medication and inadequate arrangements for emergency treatment; locums working at the practice without appropriate employment checks and inadequate arrangements for recording and reporting incidents and inadequate fire safety arrangements.