MP in plea on plans to shut GP practice
Health service bosses are being urged to intervene in plans to close a GP surgery which would leave around 1,300 patients having to travel for care.
Wolverhampton MP Pat McFadden has written to the head of primary care for the region asking her to look into setting up another surgery in Portobello.
Partners at the Portobello Medical Centre, in Dilloways Lane, Willenhall, have been unable to negotiate a lease with the building's new landlord and will shut its doors on April 30.
Mr McFadden believes it will leave people cut off from healthcare because alternative surgeries are a bus ride away in Bilston or Walsall. Mr McFadden said: "I am very worried about a serious gap in GP services opening up in the Portobello area.
"Many of the patients using the current surgery are elderly and immobile and it is not easy to get from Portobello to other places. I am appealing to the NHS Commissioning Board to work with local GPs to try to ensure the continuation of GP services in Portobello."
In a letter to Donna McArthur, head of primary care for the NHS Team in Birmingham, Mr McFadden added: "The area faces being left without a GP practice and I would be very grateful for any help you can offer in working with local GPs to fill this gap."
