The future of small medical practices could be in jeopardy, following funding changes on the assumption the borough has fewer disadvantaged and poor patients.

Waits for a GP appointment are getting longer in East Molesey, and blames are being put on funds and a shortage of GPs.

Roisin Miller used Twitter to vent frustration at being unable to book an appointment within two weeks.

She said on Tuesday, March 11: "Told today I have to wait two weeks to see any GP at surgery in East Molesey. Surely that’s against the rules."

Later she had since been given an earlier appointment but said "I still am really disgusted they have a 2-4 week wait and no lists."

Vanessa Young, practice manager at the Vine Medical Centre, East Molesey, said there was an issue with appointment waiting times and she feared "this would only get worse".

She said: "This is a fairly new problem and has got worse in the last 18 months and is now critical."

Some of the problems she cited were a shift of workload from secondary to primary care, an inability to control workload, a critical shortage of GPs in primary care, patients attending practices due to the lack of community resources and an aging population with complex needs.

Ms Young said: "Because we are in an affluent area our income is adjusted down by around 10 per cent on the basis that we have fewer disadvantaged and poor patients.

"There has also been a massive cut in funding to the point where small practice, such as ours, may no longer be financially viable. "

Jan Flynn, practice manager at Glenlyn Medical Centre, East Molesey, said lengthening waiting times was a national problem but disagreed Surrey is worse off due to its image as affluent.

She said: "People do think that we don't have enough but compared to a lot of areas I think that the availability is quite good."

Dr Maureen Baker, chairman of the Royal College of GPs, said in February: "Our patients should be able to see a GP whenever they are in need of medical assistance and family doctors are working harder than ever to cope with increasing patient demand, due to a growing and ageing population.

"Unfortunately, what we are seeing is a sad consequence of the desperate shortage of GPs across the country, with many practices finding it difficult to find replacements for those doctors that have retired, and not enough medical graduates entering general practice to replace them."