A LETTER has claimed that a Swindon doctor’s surgery could be without GPs in the near future, as the NHS staffing crisis continues.

In an open letter published on Swindon-based health champion Healthwatch’s website, on behalf of the Swindon Patient Participation Group, it is alleged the Old Town Surgery will see the loss of two GPs imminently and has reached “crisis point”.

The letter, which alleges to be outlining statements made by the surgery at the annual general meeting on July 16, said the Curie Avenue surgery will 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.

The letter has since been removed from Healthwatch’s website.

They claim this comes after failed attempts to recruit GPs or locums through agencies and job adverts on specialist medical recruitment sites NHS Jobs and the BMJ.

It said: “The situation has reached crisis point; Dr Heaton, Senior Partner, will be on annual leave in August (two weeks), which will reduce the practice with one part-time GP during that period.

“It is anticipated that there will be at least one day when there will be no GPs in the surgery. This we understand means the surgery will go into ‘Red Alert’.”

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

Old Town Surgery PPG also highlight the Department of Health’s recent pledge to make doctors work a seven-day-week “It would appear there are not enough doctors to provide the minimum service expected from the patient community.”

If the surgery is put on red alert, they must implement emergency procedures. This means at a moment’s notice they must be prepared to cancel all appointments and only treat emergency patients.

Therefore hundreds of patients seeking medical care could be forced into switching to surgeries already at maximum capacity.

It is understood from the letter that Old Town Surgery has already closed its patient list, and was not taking on any other new patients due to staff shortages.

“The volume of new patients combined weighed up with the reduced staffing levels was considered too great to ensure the level of care could be maintained. NHS England agreed and the list was duly closed,” the letter said.

The PPG say they will be communicating with health regulatory bodies NHS England and Swindon Clinical Commissioning Group to highlight the issue.

The letter alleged that Dr Heaton and his team at the Old Town Surgery has put forward concerns to commissioning body NHS England but slammed them for not giving them any options.

“Dr Heaton and his team have escalated this to NHS England and feel that the practice is now running out of options. It does not appear that NHS England is providing any solutions,” it said.

NHS England, Swindon CCG and the Old Town Surgery did not return calls for comment.