Inspectors in England found some GP practices were so dirty they had maggots.
The Care Quality Commission (CQC) health regulator carried out inspections at 1,000 practices across England and found examples of “very poor care” that put patients at risk.
While many people received an excellent service, a third of surgeries (34%) failed to meet at least one of the required standards on good practice and protecting patients.
In nine practices “there were very serious failings that could potentially affect thousands of people”, the CQC said, and in 90 practices follow-up inspections had to be ordered to ensure improvements were made.
Some GPs left private medical files laying around, had medicines that were out of date, filthy treatment rooms and employed staff who had not undergone criminal record checks.
In one of the better-performing practices, inspectors found maggots and dirty conditions, while in another consulting rooms had no doors and people could hear what was being said to the GP.
In some surgeries, emergency drugs were out of date and fridges were not always checked to ensure they were at the right temperature.
The CQC said this puts children in particular at risk because failure to store vaccines at the right temperature can reduce their effectiveness, leading to an outbreak of a contagious childhood disease such as measles.
Dr Chaand Nagpaul, chairman of the British Medical Association’s general practice committee, said: “While most patients receive high-quality care from their GP, we need to understand where and why shortcomings in a small number of practices exist, and the BMA is committed to working with the chief inspector to improve standards.
“It’s important, however, that anecdotes of poor practice are not used to distort the reality, which is that the overwhelming majority of hard-working GPs provide high-quality care which is appreciated by patients.”