Patients at the soon to close Pennygate Surgery have called for it to remain open after the retiring doctor offered to hire the building out rent free.
Supporters of the surgery gathered at a packed and heated meeting on Monday to discuss South Lincolnshire Clinical Commissioing Group’s (CCG) proposal to transfer all patients to the Johnson Hospital from September 7.
It comes after the general practitioner Dr Azmeena Nathu, who also owns the building, announced her retirement.
That followed Pennygate Surgery being the subject of a damning Care Quality Commission (CQC) report at the beginning of the year, and a subsequent update said that improvements in some areas at the practice had yet to be made.
Supporters of the surgery packed out the Pennygate Foundation at Monday’s meeting where South Holland and the Deepings MP John Hayes backed a move to write to the South Lincolnshire Clinical Care Commission urging it to keep the surgery open at least until March 2019 to allow for a proper consultation to take place.
Coun Angela Newton, who started a petition against the move, told the meeting that Dr Nathu had offered the CCG the use of the building for free and that moving the surgery to the Johnson Hospital in Spalding would cost the NHS £80,000.
See this week’s The Voice for more information.
