A village’s only GP surgery is at risk of closure in a move bosses say will “improve services”.
If St George’s Medical Centre closes its site in Eastchurch, on Sheppey, people living there would have to make a three-mile journey to access healthcare.
Dr U Ota & Partners – which runs the practice, as well as sites in Sheerness and Leysdown – revealed the plan to shut the centre in a letter to patients.
Across all three bases, it has 10,800 people on its books, according to a 2021 Care Quality Commission report, which rated its services as “good”.
In the letter, bosses say providing care across its two smaller sites, in Leysdown Road, Leysdown and Eastchuch High Street, “is becoming difficult” due to “constraints and inadequate premises”.
They added: “This will allow us to focus our efforts and resources on improving services delivered at the east side of the Island.”
The closure would mean a long walk or going by bus to Leysdown to access healthcare for those who do not drive.
Cllr Lee-Anne Moore (Con), who represents Sheppey East on Swale council, says the plans will only make it harder for villagers to get medical attention.
The mum-of-three pointed out that St George’s Warden Bay surgery had also shut. It was closed “temporarily” in 2022 but is yet to reopen.
She said: “It is not going to improve the services it can offer Eastchurch residents, especially those who cannot drive.
“If anything, we need one big GP surgery that can offer all services, like the practice runs in Sheerness.
“It is just one more service which is being taken away from the east end of the Island.”
Sheppey is one of the most deprived areas, not only in Kent, but across the country.
In the government’s latest data on deprivation, published in 2019, Eastchurch was ranked 591 out of 32,844 areas in England, putting it in the top 2% most deprived places in the country.
During the 2021 census, in the east end of Sheppey, including Warden and Leysdown, more than double the number of people reported having bad or very bad health than the south east average – almost one in 10 (9.58%) compared to more than one in 20 (4.24%).
In the letter, Dr U Ota & Partners said it had launched a six-week survey for patients to put forward their opinions. This started on July 14.
The practice said: “Before we make any decision, we would like to understand how you use the site and how this might affect you, so we can take this into consideration and look at any additional support we may need to put in place.”
KentOnline asked Dr U Ota & Partners for comment.
