Patients of a “cramped” GP surgery in Hook have handed in a 1,000-strong petition to health chiefs after plans to buy the building and redevelop it stalled.
GPs in the Gosbury Hill Health Centre were given first refusal by NHS Kingston in June to buy the building, described as the worst in the whole borough, and the Hook Clinic next door, to redevelop them.
The two practices said they had put in a bid matching the price of the building as judged by the district valuer and are prepared to spend £2m to build a new health facility.
But three months later, long-suffering patients are frustrated there is still no deal between husband and wife team Drs Bala and Siva Balasingam, Dr John Gray, and the NHS.
They are also worried about the impact the awarding of a contract for brand new GP-led walk in centre in the area will have.
Colin Dance, of the Orchard practice patients group, confronted NHS Kingston chief executive David Smith at the organisation’s annual general meeting on Monday, handing in a petition of 1,423 patients urging board members to press ahead with the sale.
He said: “There seems to be another impasse come today which is desperately concerning us.”
Fellow patient Sid Eaves said: “We don’t feel very confident we are going to get a fair deal with regard to the practice.”
But David Smith, chief executive of NHS Kingston, said: “We have said to both practices ‘the offer is there’.
“It is time for the two practices to start working together to make this a reality.”
When the Surrey Comet contacted Dr John Gray, he denied the practices were not in agreement.
He said: “There is absolute 100 percent determined commitment by both practices and the patient participation groups that we must redevelop.”
A third party, which he declined to name but said was not Mallings Health, was also working with both practices to help them buy the site, he said.
There is still no word on where Mallings Health will locate the new GP-led walk in clinic which will start with no patients.
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