Fears for surgery as doctors step down

More than 3,000 Walsall patients could be forced to switch GP surgeries as two doctors retire from the practice.

Abbey Square surgery, on the Mossley estate in Bloxwich, is under threat of closure as the departure leaves only one GP – Saema Saleem – working there.

Doctors and married couple Abdul and Rifat Ghaffar, are due to leave the 3,053-strong practice on March 31, after more than three decades treating patients.

Consultation has started regarding the future of the practice, as the premises is owned by the Ghaffars.

Options include renting the building and refurbishing it so that Dr Saleem and another doctor could run it. Another option would be for patients to relocate to All Saints surgery in Field Road and Pinfold Street surgery.

NHS Walsall does not plan to buy the building from the couple due to the cost.

Councillor Melvin Pitt, Conservative for Bloxwich West, said he hopes the surgery will remain open as it is much-loved and well-used by the community.

He said: "I would prefer to keep it open, it fulfils a need in the community. You never see your own doctor in big medical centres.

"It's a more personal service they have at Abbey Square and the people on the estate recognise that. If they want it to stay open then I will definitely support them."

He added: "It's very popular, and if it was closed down it would be very much missed by the people in the area." Fellow Councillor Louise Harrison said: "They have got over 3,000 patients, that alone tells you that it's well-used.

"There is a large elderly population on the Mossley estate, that's what worries me. Even if they move it to Pinfold Street, it's about whether the elderly people can get there. Even if they can drive, the parking there is horrendous."

Spokeswoman for NHS Walsall, Helen Cook, said 35 per cent of Abbey Square's patients come from outside the area including Willenhall North, Bloxwich East and Blakenall, and about 75 per cent of the patients in the Mossley and Dudley Fields area access primary health care from other areas.