Emergency closures at a Morden surgery, which could have revealed a catalogue failures by an out-of-hours GP service, were not properly investigated.

Yesterday it was revealed a lying, work-shy senior doctor had left patients waiting up to three hours for urgent treatment and took at least £100,000 in a series of “shocking failings” at the service.

As head of Croydoc, a private company tasked with organising and providing out-of-hours GP care for almost 1m people in Merton and other boroughs, Dr Ravi Sondhi withdrew money from the business without authority.

He also took money directly from staff, While doing shifts himself he failed to answer and record calls, and on weekends would sometimes base himself in Norfolk – leaving a large patch of south-west London without a visiting GP.

A report relased by NHS Croydon yesterday found that at one point staff asked him “not to undertake shifts because he failed to attend most of the time”.

Dr Sondhi was only disciplined by NHS bosses in December 2009, despite early warning signs including problems at a Morden clinic, which shut 83 times in less than a year when a GP – Dr Sondhi’s wife – failed to turn up for shifts there. He could now face criminal charges.

Dr David Finch, joint medical director of NHS South West London, said: “You wouldn’t believe it could happen but it did.”

Despite admitting failures no one at NHS Croydon – which commissions care and was responsible for the contract with Croydoc – has been disciplined over the issue. The service is now run by a new organisation, Patient Care 24.

In its report NHS Croydon admitted failing to satisfactorily monitor the contract with Croydoc, which operated in Merton from 2005 – and also covered Sutton, Croydon and Kingston. It said Dr Sondhi controlled Croydoc and held senior positions including clinical director and chairman.

Croydoc has now been wound down and Dr Sondhi has been declared bankrupt, had his medical licence suspended and is awaiting a fitness to practice hearing at the General Medical Council.

The report said problems emerged as early as 2007 when a clinic in Morden Road shut 83 times in 10 months, after Dr Sondhi’s wife Dr Salma Uddin failed to turn up for late-night shifts. Asked why this had not triggered alarm bells, Dr Finch said people “were trying to raise issues up through the organisation”. But he said Dr Sondhi was a “bullying and intimidating character”, who managed to dupe those around him.

Dr Finch said the report revealed “shocking failings” but he had been reassured by an independent review of care given to patients in the case. He said: “What Dr Sondhi did was wrong and GPs and the NHS are angry and shocked about the findings of this report. We are confident Patient Care 24 is providing an effective service to patients.”

A spokesman for NHS South West London said it was now “exploring legal options” with regard to Dr Sondhi. Croydon North MP Malcolm Wicks called for an investigation into the “shoddy saga of Croydoc”.