A SWINDON surgery has pledged to focus on recruiting more doctors days after a letter claimed it was at risk of losing all GPs in a NHS staffing crisis.

On Monday, an open letter posted on Swindon-based health champion Healthwatch’s website on behalf of the Swindon Patient Participation Group (PPG) alleged Old Town Surgery in Curie Avenue would see the loss of two GPs imminently and had reached “crisis point”.

The letter also claimed the Victoria Road surgery would be reduced to one part-time GP during August with at least one day a week where there will be no GPs in the surgery, causing the surgery to implement emergency procedures or go on 'Red Alert'.

In a joint statement, the surgery and health regulatory bodies NHS England and NHS Swindon Clinical Commissioning Group (CCG) said their main focus was covering a staff shortage, with a recruitment drive taking place.

A spokesman for the organisations said: “Old Town Surgery is putting plans in place to cover GP annual leave with locum GP support, while continuing to work on recruiting new GPs.

“NHS England continues to work with local CCGs to ensure access to good quality primary medical services for patients and with the emergence of cocommissioning a range of options for new and innovative commissioning will be available in primary care, helping to improve services and the patient experience.”

NHS England and Swindon CCG confirmed Old Town Surgery had stopped taking on new patients and would point existing patients to alternative services in the town which can help should there be any overflow at the surgery.

The spokesman said: “Swindon CCG was successful in securing an additional £3.9m to put in place additional services for our 26 membership practices to access during 2015/16. These services include an urgent care clinic, a children’s and young person’s clinic and a home visiting service.

“All three services are available from 8am to 8pm from Monday to Friday, and are bookable directly by practices so that they are able to direct patients who are clinically appropriate and needing urgent and/or on the day care to them. Old Town Surgery has full access to these schemes.”

In the letter seen by the Adver, the PPG pleaded with Healthwatch to “ensure the voice of the patient community is heard” during the difficult period.

Yesterday, NHS England and Swindon CCG acknowledged the national issues concerning GP recruitment with NHS England’s announcement of a £10m investment to increase the number of GPs and other medical professionals.

The spokesman said: “The purpose of the fund is to recruit newly trained doctors into general practice, to retain existing GPs and to encourage doctors to return to general practice. Additional funding of £1bn over four years for primary care infrastructure will further support services.

“Swindon CCG and NHS England are working closely with all GP practices across Swindon to promote Swindon as a good place to work in primary care, we are committed to working with local practices and other stakeholders such as the nursing colleges, medical deanery, and Health Education England to progress these plans as quickly as possible.”