A GP practice has closed because health bosses said doctors were putting patients at risk.

NHS Enfield's decision to close Bush Hill Park Medical Practice on Monday, which was run by two partners who have both been hauled before the General Medical Council (GMC) in the past, means 3,500 patients are now having to find alternative medical care.

Staff at the surgery, in Amberley Road, were told it was to close on Friday at 7pm by NHS Enfield.

Health bosses said the closure “comes at the end of a long investigation with a large number of remedial notices served on the contractors which they failed to comply with.”

Dr Anthonipillai Nicholas-Pillai was suspended for six months in 2009 after being found to have botched the circumcision of a baby in 2008, and was then re-suspended from practising by the GMC from November 9 last year. The details of this second investigation have not been made public.

He has now been removed from the borough’s list of practitioners.

His partner, Dr Saravanamuthu Muthulingham, was also given a formal warning in 2008 after having shown pornographic images to a female colleague on his mobile telephone, massaging her neck, and making an inappropriate remark to her.

He is able to practise but had conditions imposed on him by the GMC in May 2009, again as part of a private ongoing investigation.

And Dr Nicholas-Pillai’s wife, Olivet, who is employed as a GP, had conditions imposed by the GMC from April this year, restricting her to only practising under supervision, for no more than four evening sessions of three hours each per week.

As a result the partners hired locums to carry out much of their work.

Olivet Nicholas-Pillai told the Enfield Independent that she and her husband were currently taking legal advice on the decision, which she thought was a deliberate attempt to close them by NHS Enfield by “finding fault” with their clinical care.

She said: “We took over the surgery in 1981. We’ve been looking after patients for 30 years, they were very upset, and we were upset because we wanted to provide continuity of care and that is lost now.”

Some patients were shocked to discover their GP surgery was closed on Monday, as the surgery was making follow-up appointments as late as Friday.

Angela Avraam, 43, said: “I came past at 9am this morning to pick up a prescription for my husband. I saw a few people outside, most people were very upset. I will have to go to Edmonton now, and I don’t drive, so I hope they have it.”

Nicky Francis, 50, who was expecting to have a vitamin injection, said she wasn’t surprised at the closure as she had heard about the circumcision case and said the surgery was often “absolutely packed” and “dirty”.

NHS Enfield sent out letters to patients over the weekend, though patients who had not received them turned up for appointments throughout Monday and Tuesday.

Shantil Valabhai, 68, said that he was “very upset. Dr Nicholas-Pillai was a very good doctor, very flexible and friendly, and we were given no warning about this.”

A statement from NHS Enfield said: "Following concerns about the standard of care being provided to patients by the Bush Hill Park Medical Practice, NHS Enfield has terminated the contract it held. All patients will receive letters from NHS Enfield advising them of the alternative arrangements which have been made for their continuing care at the Edmonton GP Health Centre, Evergreen Primary Care Centre, 1 Smythe Close, Edmonton. Patients will also be provided with details of all other local practices where they may instead choose to register."

A satellite surgery at High Street, Ponders End, which was run by the same team, has also closed until further notice.