A suspended doctor’s practice has been handed three formal warnings by the regulator of health and social care.

Dr Ijaz Hayat, who runs the Hayat Medical Centre, was issued with warnings relating to patient protection and medicine management, a report revealed yesterday.

Dr Hayat, whose operates out of 273 Boundary Road in Walthamstow, has been suspended since September 18 while the General Medical Council investigates his fitness to practise.

Further details of his suspension are unavailable as the investigation is ongoing, but these warnings are unrelated.

A Care Quality Commission report revealed three formal warnings were issued to Dr Hayat after inspections in October.

Inspectors found that nine of 15 patient records examined were missing information and staff told inspectors that a backlog of around 700 tests were waiting to be filed in the records.

Over a one-week period in October it was found that only 13 per cent of phone calls made to the practice were answered.

Dr Hayat told inspectors that because of his suspension he, the service provider, was unable to supervise locum GPs, meaning he was unable to take decisions on the care and treatment of patients.

Also, the practice’s policy on the safeguarding of children, which included the contact details of children’s organisations responsible for investigating allegations of abuse or neglect had last been reviewed in 2009 while there was no policy for safeguarding vulnerable adults.

One inspector wrote: “People who use the service were not protected from the risk of abuse, because the provider had not taken reasonable steps to identify the possibility of abuse and prevent abuse from happening.”

Dr Hayat was told that standards must improve by December 24, after which inspectors will return unannounced for further assessment.